


Impossible

by themiswhite



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF!sakura, Blind!Sakura, Eldritch, Found Family, Haruno Sakura-centric, Lovecraftian Horror, Sakura-centric, blind, buff!sakura, cosmic horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 39,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23304814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themiswhite/pseuds/themiswhite
Summary: Due to unfortunate circumstances, Sakura becomes blind and looses her spot on Team Seven. But, as impossible no longer becomes a word in her vocabulary, she learns that maybe there was more to the world than anyone could have ever imagined.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Sai, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Itachi, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 19
Kudos: 149





	1. All In Green

"I have an important mission planned for us today," Kakashi's voice clearly rang out, despite his mouth being covered by his obnoxious black mask.

His three gēnin, who made up the rambunctious crew, known as Team Seven—more like _hellions_ , though—immediately perked up at his words that promised something more beside looking for lost animals. Was being a ninja really worth getting called mean names and earning ugly cat scratches?

"Woohoo! Finally, an important mission!" Naruto shouted, grinning, his blue eyes bright in anticipation. His shirt was tucked into his pants, and a few sheet of toilet paper were on the bottom of his shoe.

Sasuke's eyes also glimmered, though he kept his expression neutral. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, his famous nonchalant personality showing as usual.

And Sakura, oh Sakura, she just had a happy smile on her face. She clapped her hands together in pleasure and the corners of her eyes crinkled. She was also, obviously, looking forward to the new mission.

They weren't taking things seriously yet, but Kakashi needed for them to catch a glimpse of the real world. Yes, he knew Sasuke witnessed his clans death by the hand of his own brother, and that was definitely the real world, but he didn't mean about dark and heavy things like that. Just the sort of things that let you get out and see the great, unknown world.

"What's the mission?" Sakura asked, tilting her head. Hopefully it would be something awesome like protecting a fuedel lord, or even going to retrieve an important scroll. Her mind went wild with the possibilities of what they would be doing. Her heart did flips of excitement.

The silver haired jōnin gave them a closed eyed smile. "We will be helping transport important barrels between two mines," he replied, tilting his head and leaning forward in that knowing way he did.

Instantly, the three genin's moods plummeted, and they glowered. Kakashi had gotten their hopes up for nothing. Served them right. A ninja was there to help when needed, for whatever it may be.

"But Sensei.. That sounds boring! We've been doing simple jobs like that for awhile now," Naruto protested, frowning.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "All missions are important, despite how small and meaningless they may be. Now, I expect you three to meet me here in a half hour." With those words, he suddenly shunshined away, leaving the rest of team seven to disperse back to their homes and prepare for the upcoming mission.

When Sakura arrived at her empty home, (her parents were out again for work, the usual business), she took a quick five minute shower so she would be clean, and packed her bag full of shinobi equipment she might possibly need. A simple first aid kit, some kunai, a shuriken, and even a small fan that she did not know how to work yet.

After one last check in the mirror and making sure her hair was good and pretty for Sasuke-kun, she decided that she was ready to go. Hopefully this mission would somehow turn out better than the last ones.

Team Seven and their jōnin sensei made their way out of the village, and were walking towards the first mine.

"How far are we going?" Sakura asked, curious. She was walking in between Naruto and Sasuke, with Kakashi in front of her. Her green eyes were wide with the want to see everything that was around her. She has only traveled outside the village a few times in the past with her parents, but that was when she was far younger than she was now. This was almost new to her, too.

"Not far. We'll probably be walking for about an hour at most," the jōnin replied, glancing back at her.

"Oh, okay. And uh, what will be moving? Is it heavy?" she asked, clenching her fists. She was torn between not wanting to work much but somehow wanting to better herself. She threw a side-glance to he two teammates, who were already pushing and bickering with each other. She sighed.

Kakashi looked at her, eyebrow quirked. Amusement seemed to be the only emotion he was able to communicate with his masked face. "Who's to say? We'll see when we get there, right, my cute little genin's?"

There was gagging sounds in the background, and Kakashi ignored them. But as for Sakura, she glowed under those words.

They finally managed to make it to the first mine in less than an hour, since the team had decided to pick up their pace a bit.

Directly in front of them was the looming structure of a large cave, and Sakura could sense several people inside. The small traces of chakra told her that they were not shinobi, but ordinary workers. At the mouth of the cave, there were several wooden containers about half the size of herself. They were most likely the liquids they had to transport.

"So you're the hired help, eh?"

A group of well muscled men were what team seven came across when they entered the cave. It was the leader that spoke, who had calloused hands from hard work and yellow, crooked teeth.

For some reason, Sakura felt as if something wasn't right. It was suspicious, the way these strong men had hired a team of shinobi to do their dirty work for them when they were obviously capable of doing it themselves. Why did they need ninjas? To protect them maybe? If they needed protection then, they should have said from what. Then maybe a more experienced team would have been chosen for this. But if Kakashi felt that something was off, he didn't say anything about it. She was probably just turning into her mom and become paranoid over things. (That was a scary thought.)

"Yes, that is correct. Is there a certain way that you would like these transported?" Kakashi asked as the leader and genin walked over to the plastic containers.

Another man came up to them with four masks, one for each person.

"Not much to say 'cept to wear these masks so you don't hurt ya'selves," the leader replied as Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke inspected the pieces of body gear that would prevent them from getting hurt.

The one that was handed to Sakura had a smudged spot in the corner, but that was the only unusual thing that stood out. She crinkled her nose, wondering why she had to wear it. Was whatever was inside the barrels toxic? She eyed the wood warily, discreetly sniffing the air.

They didn't smell dangerous at least. Only the damp cave air lingered.

After everyone had their masks on, they set to work on transporting what was now obviously liquids to another mine that was a few kilometers away.

The pinkette struggled with her load, though she worked hard to hide it since the boys picked up theirs with ease.

_Useless, is what I am_ , she thought bitterly. Though, it was her fault since she didn't work nearly as hard as she should. She has tried to do things like set up a system or schedule so she could train more, but it never worked out. She was bad at things like that, she was afraid to admit. Sticking to certain things required having a strong motivation. Her only motivation at the moment was stealing Sasuke from Ino-pig and making sure her plants didn't die.

She suddenly paused in her step, sensing something off.

Kakashi, who was walking to the left of her, glanced at her and motioned for her to keep walking with a small movementof his head. She did as he wanted, knowing that he had sensed it as well.

They were being followed. And judging by the chakra's, they weren't just curious civilians watching shinobi do their work. Sakura could practically taste the killing intent coming off of them. Sakura glanced at Sasuke, who noticed them too, and slowed down slightly.

It was when team seven was making their third and last round that the threatening ninja decided to officially make themselves known.

A kunai came flying from the trees and cut Naruto in the arm, causing him to let out an muffled, undignified yelp and drop the container. Fortunately though, nothing spilled when it hit the ground.

Kakashi immediately put down his load and pulled out a kunai; Naruto did the same. Sakura and Sasuke quickly copied them and everyone went back to back, keeping the containers behind them to keep them safe, since it was unknown if the hidden shinobi wanted the hazardous liquids.

"Quite hiding like cowards," Kakashi called out calmly, his uncovered eye flickering across the trees. And then in a lower voice he said to his students, "Don't take off your masks."

Another kunai came from a different tree, and the jōnin sensei easily blocked it.

"Leave now and we won't hurt you," a voice said from a nearby bush.

Naruto tensed his arms, the blood dripping from his cut already slowing down. "Like hell we'll leave!"

Pursing her lips, (though nobody could see that), Sakura quickly reached over and smacked his arm. "Be quiet, you idiot," she hissed. "Don't antagonize them!"

Sakura redirected her attention though when somebody suddenly appeared before them, casually rocking on their heels. It was a man, who looked to be in his early thirties. A large scar ran up his neck to his peircing green eyes.

Two other rogue ninja appeared beside him, also sporting nasty scars on their faces. They were missing ninja from the Hidden Village in the Mist, judging by their crossed off headbands.

"We aren't looking for trouble now," the one in the middle said, giving them an easy smile.

Sakura felt Kakashi tense as well at his pleasant tone. She thought the rogue Nina was acting too friendly for her taste. It gave her a funny feeling.

"Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. I want you three to guard the liquids. But if those three put you in a life threatening situation, you save yourselves and each other," their sensei said quietly, before suddenly shunshining away, causing the rogue nin to quickly put up their guard and look around.

The nin on the right chuckled after a few moments. "It looks like your sensei left you for dead. What a great shinobi," he sneered, baring gnarled teeth.

Sasuke merely scoffed."Then what does that make you?"

The leader quickly put his hand out, stopping the suddenly angry man from lunging towards them.

"Don't kill them just yet. They'd be worth a good amount of money, especially that little girl with the pretty hair," he said, a certain something in his tone, gesturing to Sakura who paled drastically under her mask. If only her hair wasn't so long; then it would have been hidden.

Naruto let out an animalistic snarl. "As if we'd let you bastards have us!"

The leader suddenly dropped his smile and lowered his arm, allowing the other nin to finally lunge at the genin.

He dodged several kunai, easily making his way to stand directly in front of Naruto, who in turn used his Shadow Clone Jutsu. The clones pushed the nin back, but were all destroyed within a minute.

The other nin then lunged forward at well, and used hand signs to also make a clone. The clone appeared in front of Sasuke, and he easily cut through it, though his hands were slightly shaking. Sakura had a feeling that the bloodlust he was sending must have been similar to when his own brother had massacred the Uchiha Clan. (She, of course, was wrong. Sasuke was nowhere near Itachi.)

That was when the pinkette realized something, hunched back in a corner and just watching them. These rogue nin were merely playing with them, testing out their jutsus. They were using their full power, but using them as toys. Which made sense. They were only genin, practically fresh out of the Academy.

But in all honesty, that pissed Sakura off. Sure, she knew she was weak. But it was a different thing when people just assumed that, and didn't take her seriously.

All rational thought left her as she took a step forward, barely abandoning her position, and therefore catching the others attention. That was her first mistake.

"I think someone's upset that we've been ignoring her," the leader said, cackling with amusement. "I guess we can give her some entertainment~"

After those words, he quickly preformed a couple of hand signs, and the barrel that Naruto had dropped exploded, sending toxic rain down on the genin's exposed skin.

Fortunately, since it only came down in small amounts, the pain wasn't too bad. But, that was when the genin realized that they needed to get away from the containers. It was simply too dangerous.

So they split up, and each went after a different person, which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. Kakashi had said _help each other_. But they were running away from their teammates. Was that cowardly? Did that count?

Were they _scum?_

The pinkette inwardly fretted as she realized she was left with the leader who had been admiring her hair. Taking a deep breath and try to calm her mind, she pulled a kunai and held it in front of her defensively, before rushing towards him.

But she never got the change to engage him in a fight. Because Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of her. She noticed that hisforehead protector was no longer covering his eye, which was open for all to see. Sakura instantly recognized the sharingan, which made absolutely no sense, since she knew her sensei was definitely not an Uchiha.

A familiar sense of annoyance forced into way into her core, pushing away fear, as Kakashi stood in a protective manner in front of her.

"Sorry for not coming sooner," he told the Sakura not taking his eyes off the the ninja. He then proceeded to go after him, leaving the genin to do absolutely nothing. He had unintentionally made her feel as if she couldn't handle herself. (Even though it was true, she couldn't really.)

Things suddenly turned for the worst when two more rogue nin came from the trees, somehow managing to capture the boys, and distracted Kakashi from making sure Sakura was safe.

The punch came quickly and unexpected.

The sound of cracking caused a wave of panic and fear to pulse through her. Glancing up at the corner of her maka to where the smudge was, was also where the sound had came from.

Her heart fell and she struggled to breath as she realized that a small spiderweb of a crack revealed itself. She didn't want her face to come into any contact with the poison-like liquid that already burned her skin in several areas. She felt itchy—squirmy in a way that was wrong. She blinked rapidly and teeth leered at her at the blank spaces in her vision.

But before she had time to react, someone yanked hard on the mask, and it slipped over her head. A hand quickly attached itself to her long hair, and then she was being lifted into the air.

"Ah, a pretty face too. Such a shame that we have to ruin it," the leader said, grinning maniacally, as he threw the pinkette hard to the ground. "But of course, money is money."

"Sakura!" she heard Naruto's voice from somewhere to her left. She couldn't tell exactly where he was. Her head had hit the ground hard, sending waves of dizziness through her.

Naruto and Sasuke were still tied up, while Kakashi was trapped in some type of water jutsu. They could not help her now.

Opening her eyes when most of the dizziness passed, she saw the cruel leader slowly stalking towards her, and a barely contained whimper left her throat.

The last thing Sakura saw was blue skies, wet-dewed grass, and bright green eyes that were filled with the worst type of mirth.

The pain quickly came. Blinding, excruciating pain. She had closed her eyes too late, and now they burned like hell. No, worse than hell. Even more so than the time she got chili pepper in her eyes after accidentally rubbing at them. Her hands reached up to claw at her face, trying to wipe away the toxic liquid.

But nothing was working.

She vaguely noticed a hand on her hair again, lifting her up. After a few moments she then she fell back to the ground, feelinglighter than before.

It soon became all too much.

Sakura passed out, the liquid still eating away at her pale skin. Locks of pink hair floated around her and horrid green eyes flashed in accomplishment.

And the thing was, the damage would be permanent, and she would never be the same, both physically and mentally.

She should have listened to that little warning voice. But now, it was far too late. They had chosen her, unwilling but hopeful.

The first thing that Sakura was aware of when she woke up was a thick bandage wrapped around her head, covering her eyes. She was also aware of a slight pain above her cheek bones and a few other places on her arms and legs, but, for the most part, she felt fine. Maybe even better than fine.

Her hands twitched, and she immediately tensed when she felt something warm in her hand. It took a few moments for her to realize it was just someone's else's hand that had her own in a tight grip. Hesitantly, she gave the person a gentle squeeze, and a gasp immediately followed.

"Are you awake, Sakura?" a worried voice asked in a gentle whisper. It was her mom. She must have gotten back from her trip.

The pinkette responded by attempting to clear her throat. Her lips clamped together. She needed something.

"Water?" she rasped, her dry lips smacking together. The hand quickly left here and a few moments later a cool glass was pressed against her lips. Sakura greedily downed the glass of water in a few seconds.

After wiping her mouth, she spoke again, her voice clearer this time. "What happened?" Her head started hurt now. A headache was coming on.

There was a sigh, and she didn't see how her mothers eyes watered with unshed tears. Instead of answering her daughters question, she said, "I'll be right back, don't worry. I'm just going to get a nurse."

Sakura was then left alone, after she heard the door close.

Her hand automatically went to the bandages wrapped around her head, and grimaced when she found that it was rubbing against her skin the wrong way. Wincing when she accidentally prodded the area around her eyes too hard, her fingers finally managed to find the end of the bandage, and she carefully unwrapped it.

The thought that the nurses would rather them take it off than her, didn't occur to her.

Instead of her eyes having to adjust to a sudden brightness caused by the sun shining through the window, she was met with darkness. She soon came to the conclusion that it was night outside, but, that didn't make any sense. Her mom had gave her a cup of water, which meant that there had to be some sort of light source. And there was a light source; she could feel it on her face. The sun was definitely up and shining on her, warmth drying away the faint hint of sweat on her cheeks and forehead.

But that didn't solve her confusion. Why couldn't she see anything? Carefully bringing her fingers up to her face, she made sure that her eyes were actually open, which they were. Her fingers brushed against eyelashes, grazing her skin.

A door suddenly clicked open, and she swiveled her face towards the noise, brining her hands down. Still, no lights turned on, and she was left in the dark.

She was starting to panic now, but tried to hide it. It was dark, so very dark. Her headache was getting worse due to her straining her eyes open. She could feel it.

There was a muffled gasp, and a sniffle followed.

"Oh, Sakura, you took your bandage off," an unfamiliar male voice said lightly.

The pinkette tensed at the voice, and followed the sound of his sharp footsteps as they lead towards her. "I-I'm sorry. It was bothering me so I- I took it off. I hope that wasn't the wrong thing to do," she said nervously, wringing her hands. "Is my mom here too?"

There was a light cough from a few feet away from the girl and Mebuki's familiar footsteps came closer. "Yes, sorry dear. I- I'm here," she said, her voice cracking in certain places.

Sakura suddenly flinched when she felt a hand on her forehead. The hand quickly retracted.

"I'm sorry, I should have warned you about what I was going to do," the male apologized, sounding guilty. Then he continued, "Do you remember anything before waking up?"

The pinkette furrowed her brows, thinking hard. She was on a mission, with her team. They went to a mine and were moving containers of liquid. And then-

She gasped.

"There were rogue nin! Is Sasuke-kun okay!? And Naruto-kun and Kakashi-sensei!?" she asked, dread filling her. She remembered that they were being followed, and they wanted to take the dangerous liquids, and even sell the genin for money. And then her mask had broken, and she was thrown to the ground, just like a doll. The leader of the rogue nin had come after her, and had hurt her so much. She was pretty sure that he had manipulated the liquid to splash into her face.

Splashed into her face. Toxic liquid. Toxic liquid splashed into her face. Into her eyes.

A whimper suddenly left her throat as she realized what had happened, and she wanted curled up into a ball, not wanting to face anyone one even though she couldn't even see them anyways. She had a good idea why her eyes wouldn't work.

She just hoped it wasn't true.

"Your team is perfectly fine. Naruto is perfectly fine," the male was a little tense here, "while Sasuke had a sprained wrist. Your sensei only has a shallow cut on his cheek. You're the one with the worst of the injuries," he said, his voice sounding sympathetic at the last part.

Sakura took a ragged breath and sat back up. "What are my injuries?" she asked in a low whisper, not really wanting to know. But she did and she had to hear someone say it. She was going to throw up, she was sure of it.

There was another sniffle, (her mom), and a sigh, (the nurse).

"You have several small burns, a slight concussion, some tearing in your scalp, and-" he paused, almost sounding as if he didn't want to continue.

Sakura knew what he was going to say. He just took too long to say it. She mustered up her non-existent will and spoke.

"I'm blind."

Neither person in the room denied it. They merely kept quite.

Sakura let out a sob, covering her tender face with her hands.

"Yes, I'm sorry. There was severe burns around your eyes, and your nerves have been damaged. I was able to heal most of the burns, however, there will be some scar tissue and the nerves are unfixable," the male finally said.

The pinkette tried to choke back her ugly sobs.

She was blind. She would never be able to see the faces of her parents and friends again, she would never be able to see the sunrises that she always got up extremely early in the morning to watch, she would never be able to see the beauties of the world.

She had always held a child-like wonder for the sights around her, ever since she was smile. It was what inspired her to do things. Like chase after Sasuke, learn how to dance, fill her room with plants.

Sakura didn't hear the door open, and she obviously didn't see the way her teammates and sensei watched her sadly from the doorway. Even Naruto, who so wanted to go wrap her up in a comforting hug, watched her with sorrow-filled eyes.

Mebuki knew her daughter didn't want anyone to see her like this without her knowing, so she quickly crossed the room and pulled her into a hug, blocking her blotchy cheeks and her eyes.. Oh Kami, her eyes..

They were different than before she became blind. Her eyes were pupil-less, and their color had dulled to a haze-filled green. They were also swirled with white, giving them an effect of winter giving away to spring. But, Sakura would never be able to see them. 

Mebuki almost started crying again, but she knew she had to stay strong for her only daughter. So, she cleared her throat and whispered in her ear, "Your team is waiting to see you."

The faint crying came to a surprisingly quick halt , surprising the boys. They had thought that it would have taken at least a few minutes for her to calm down enough.

But she obviously didn't want them too see her like this. She felt absolutely pathetic. She would bottle up her negative emotions for later, or try too at least. She should ask for a trash can so she had something to throw up into. And maybe something to wipe her snotty nose.

Wiping her face, the pinkette gently pushed her mom away and looked in the direction of the door, where apparently her teammates were waiting.

"Please don't stand there quietly," she whispered, covering her eyes with her hand. Maybe she could pretend that everything was fine for a little bit, and that this was just a training session to see if she could survive without her sight.

The blond genin grinned, and rushed towards the Sakura, trying to be careful as he put his arms around her, only for her to flinch at the sudden noise and contact.

She didn't know what was happening, and pushed whoever was on her back. "S-Sorry," she stuttered out when she finally realized it was only Naruto.

He blond genin understood though, and forced himself to make his way beside her in a slow and controlled manner. "It's okay, Sakura-chan."

Kakashi and Sasuke followed him, though in a slower pace their other teammate had done.

The Uchiha didn't know what to do, so he opted for sitting beside her on the hospital bed. He grimaced when he realized how scratchy the sheets were.

Kakashi looked at his student sadly, not yet wanting to think about what this would mean for her future.

"How do feel? Are you alright? Do you need some water? Are you hungry? And how can you stand sleeping on this bed?" Naruto blurted out questions left and right, and Sakura managed to find his mouth and cover it with her free hand.

"I'm fine. I'm not thirsty or hungry, and I wasn't sleeping on the bed. I wasn't conscious; there's a difference," she replied, hiccuping in a hard tone. She was scared again, for some reason. The same fear she felt when that ninja stared at her. The same fear she felt when the bullies would chase after her, making fun of her forehead.

While Naruto wasn't put off by her words, Sasuke's's and Kakashi's eyes narrowed. They had never heard her talk like this, and figured that she would be a little more dramatical and frantic.

Kakashi looked to Mebuki worriedly.

She sighed, and gave a helpless shrug. She didn't know what to do now. Her only daughter, blind. She should feel angry at the Jounin for letting this happen, but she isn't. She was just tired.

And so was Sakura. She sat back in her bed and gently pressed her eyes shut, not that it made any difference to what she saw. "Um, is it okay I take a little nap? I'm feeling kind of drained."

Naruto immediately jumped up and dragged Sasuke to his feet, obviously against the Uchiha's will. Mebuki gave Kakashi a look, and he quickly ushered the team out of the room. There was some place he needed to be, after all.

Before he closed the door, he paused and turned back around. "I'm sorry," he whispered aloud to himself. Then he left for the Hokage's Tower.

Mebuki was also gently persuaded outside the room by Shin. He told her that it was best if she came back later when his patient was ready for interaction. Then he himself left after a few more checkups, making sure nothing bad would happen in her sleep.

The blind little girl crumpled the bed sheet into her fists as tears leaked down her face after the door shut. At least that was something about her eyes that worked. But within minutes, she let sleep gracefully take her away from her problems.

Sakura was sitting against a tree, her face hidden in her legs that were pulled up to her chest. She sniffed, trying not to cry. She's done to much of that lately, and her own sadness was making her sick.

The sudden faint sound of bells made her lift her head, and her eyes widened when she saw a beautiful woman standing directly in front of her. The woman couldn't be any older than twenty, and had long purple hair that cascaded to her waist, and faded silver eyes that seemed to look through her soul.

She crouched down, somehow not even wrinkling the sky blue kimono she was wearing.

"Why are you crying?" Her voice was sweet, and carried through the air.

Sakura hiccuped, and wiped away the wetness on her cheeks. "I'm not," she denied, hiding her face again, even though she really wanted to gaze upon the woman's face again. She was even prettier than Ino.

A warm hand sipped under her chin, and the woman lifted her face up, making her look her in the warm eyes.

"Your are crying. But I'm guessing you don't want to," the woman stated, making the pinkette nod.

"I- I don't know how to s-stop feeling sorry for myself," she admitted, her eyes starting to tear up again.

The woman have her a sad smile. "You're strong for wanting that. Would you like some advice?"

Another shy nod, making the woman hum in approval.

"Why don't you make your tears into something useful?"

Sakura frowned, trying to wrap her little head around that question. "But tears are only salty water.. You can't make anything with them, can you?" she asked, puzzled.

A strong gust of air pushed past them, making their rare colored hair stream outwards.

"Oh, you sweet little girl," the woman said with a light laugh. "Turn your tears into power, into motivation. The things that taunt you, bring you down and call you useless, use them to your advantage," she explained.

The little child with the outrageous pink hair and wide forehead sniffed and wiped at her face. "I-I think I understand.."

"Sometimes the things that make you cry, will be your greatest weapon. Don't fight the part of you that makes you, you."

And with those words, the mysterious woman stood up and turned the other way, a smile lingering on her lips. Sakura blinked once, and then she was gone, leaving behind the sound of sweet bells.

A few hours later and Shin had made Sakura stand up, trying to coax her to walk. She was using his arm for balance since was scared of falling down because she couldn't see anything.

"Your wounds are healing up nicely. And around your eyes are a little inflamed, but that will go down in a few days," the nurse told the pinkette.

She nodded. "Is- Is there a chance that I could possibly regain my sight?" she asked in a low voice, finally voicing her fear. She felt him tense.

"I'm sorry. I doubt you will ever be able to see again." His words were blunt, but not unkind.

Her shoulders slumped, and she nodded again, this time in defeat.

"And um, will I be able to continue being a kunoichi?" There was the next question, the bigger question.

This was the question she truly feared getting an answer to. At first, being a kunoichi meant nothing to her. In the Academy, it was just a pastime while she focused on impressing Sasuke. But somewhere along the way, she had just realized this now, that she had come to enjoy the toils of being a shinobi. She had liked taking in the information she read in books, and she liked the satisfaction of doing something for others instead of herself.

Such a shame that she had to finally find this out after she became blind and most likely ruined her future.

"I'm going to have to be honest and not give you false hope," Shin started, and took a deep breath.

"No. I don't think it will be possible for you to continue to be a kunoichi."

Sakura's face didn't change a muscle, but inwardly, her mind was in turmoil.

"Could you open a window. I'm feeling a bit stuffy," she choked out.

Shin immediately guided her to a window and quickly opened it.

"What floor are we on?"

"Er, the first. Why do you want to know th- Hold on a second!" he suddenly yelled when the pinkette suddenly put her hand on the window seal and forced herself to jump out the window.

Sakura didn't know what she was thinking when she attempted to escape the suddenly confining hospital. What much could she do with eyes that don't work? Her body had just moved with its own accord, taking a risk.

She landed awkwardly on her ankle, but still scrambled to her feet and began running. She had studied every location of Konoha, and she told herself many times that she would be able to navigate the village with her eyes closed.

Well, she would figure out if that was true or not.

Several bodies ran into her, and she hurriedly apologized before running off again.

If she was correct, the the place that she wanted to go should be just ahead of her. A sense of distance was one thing that she did not have, and it took a few tries before she was confident in where she was.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you looked at it, she ran into another person, and this time, she kept a hold of them.

"Excuse me, is this the Hokage's Tower?" she asked, hating how raspy her voice sounded.

"I- Um, yes? Are you okay, miss?" a female's voice asked.

Sakura didn't answer, but continued her sudden and spontaneous journey. She knew it was only a matter of time before someone caught her and sent her back to that horrible hospital. Her plans of possibly becoming a medical nin was ruined now. She felt sick at the thought of telling others that they were broken, like she was.

Slowing down now, she used her hand to guide herself up a long set of steps that she recognized. There was a turn, a small struggle of a walk, and another turn. She let out a breath of relief when she finally made it to the Hokage's door.

That's when she heard frantic footsteps from behind her.

"I found Sakura!" Naruto yelled, causing the girl to panic. How did he even know she was gone so soon?

So without even bothering to knock like any respectful person would do, she quickly found the doorknob and flung the door open, before quickly closing it behind her.

She made it.

"Sakura Haruno? What on earth are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the hospital," a familiar voice asked, that definitely wasn't the Hokage.

A different voice spoke, their voice in a hushed whisper. "What happened to your eyes?"

Oh no. Asuma and Kurenai were in there as well. And she wasn't sure if they had brought their respective teams.

"Billboard-brow!?"

She definitely should have knocked before coming in.

The door that Sakura had been leaning on suddenly was forced open, causing the pinkette to stumble forward.

"Aha! We caught you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto crowed in triumph.

Said genin gulped and felt panicked again. She couldn't see, she was now trapped, and she could practically feel the burning eyes on her. So she did what any muddled, blind person would.

She headed towards the nearest open window, and hoped she could make another great escape.

Obviously it was a stupid idea, because she suddenly forgot how many steps it took to get up here, meaning that she would be going down the same distance but without those very steps.


	2. Went My Love Riding

She never made it to the window. 

Instead, an arm quickly wrapped around her waist and she was set on a desk—in which she presumed to be the Hokage's—and a bandage was quickly wrapped around her eyes yet again. It was a surprise how much the bandage made her feel a secureness that she didn't know she needed before now, which meant it was probably going to become a common look for her.

There were a few tense moments of silence, nobody really sure of how to deal with this turn of events. 

"You can let me go now. I promise I won't run again," she said to the person who kept her in their hold, her voice holding a faint note of annoyance. The arm that was wrapped around her suddenly vanished, and she breathed out in relief. Having a person trap her like that was even worse than being in that hospital room. 

"If I might ask, how did you manage to make it to here, from the hospital, without being able to see," Kakashi asked, his voice sounding disinterested even though he was anything but. He sounded close to her, so he must have been the one that prevented her from escaping again.

She shrugged, bringing her hands up to make sure the bandage was actually secure. She then lifted it up just a little, feeling the need to rub at her eyes. "I memorized a map of Konoha awhile ago. I knew where I started from so it wasn't hard making my way here. Though I did run into quite a few people," she answered with a frown, shrugging her shoulders. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

There was a short silence. 

"Alright, what the hell is going on?" Ino snapped, crossing her arms. "I heard you were in the hospital! And what's wrong with your eyes and your face? They look differ-" A hand was quickly slapped over her mouth, effectively silencing her. 

The pinkette frowned again. Her eyes were different? "What do they look like?" she whispered, gently touching the area under the bindings where her eyes were. They seemed the same, besides the fact that they were still a little tender and it was always as if she had her eyes closed, but the same nonetheless.

Everyone in the room, except for team seven, stared at the girl, surprised. Sakura's teammates were the only ones who were aware that she was blind, seeing as they only learned about it not even a short while ago, and that included the pinkette herself.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi, stood up from his char that he had been watching from and walked to the front of the room to stare at the pink-haired genin. 

"Why have you come here, despite your unfortunate circumstances, Sakura?" the elderly man asked, but not unkindly. He already knew as well? Sakura wanted to felt a spark of something choking rise up in her. 

But the answer was immediate, and the genin in question completely forgot about the question about the appearance of her useless eyes. It was just another thing to add to the growing list of things that made her weak, she thought bitterly. 

"Please, I want to stay a kunoichi," she stated, her voice unwavering despite the waves of emotions running through her, and she carefully slid off the desk to bow low to the ground to where she desperately hoped her kage was standing. 

Sarutobi would admit that he was surprised by her request, considering the situation. He turned towards the teams that were watching them in confusion. 

"I'm going to have to postpone your mission details for a letter date, seeing as I have something else to take care of at the moment," he told them, who nodded without protest and left the room.

Soon it was only team seven, a few hidden ANBU, and the Hokage who was left in the room. But Sarutobi turned towards the expectant faces of Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi, and dismissed them as well, much to their distaste. Naruto had to actually be dragged out, no surprise there.

The whole time, Sakura was fidgeting, and she had to really pay attention to see if he was actually talking to her since she didn't know if the Hokage was looking at her.

Finally, Sarutobi spoke. "Sakura, I understand why you would want this, but you must know that it is impossible. The use of your eyes are very important in the shinobi world," he told the pinkette, his voice full of pity. 

But she wasn't looking for pity. She just wanted a chance. His next words though, almost broke her. 

"I'm afraid that you can no longer be a part of team seven, and I must ask you for your hitai-ate. You can longer become a shinobi of the Leaf," he said, trying to be firm and not spare her feelings. Because that was the way of the ninja, and he had to allow her one last taste of what being a shinobi really was, no matter how painful.

Sakura inhaled harshly. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. It was an accident.. She didn't want to become blind and become even more useless, for Kami's sake!

When the girl didn't respond, or so much as twitch in acknowledgement, Sarutobi worriedly put a frail hand on her shoulder.

She flinched, and the old kage could see her bandages slowly become damp with tears. She was crying, without moving or making a sound. Her fingernails bit half moons into her palms.

Then she spoke at last. "I understand. I'm sorry for taking up your time. I'll be off then. And, there's no need to send someone to walk me back to the hospital," she said, her voice hoarse and cracking. 

She didn't see him frown at her. He had expected her to put up more of a fight, not that he was upset about this turn of events. It was easier this way. 

Nodding, but quickly remembering the ex-genin couldn't see that, he cleared his throat and said, "If you're sure you'll be fine." After all, this was the least he could offer her. 

The pinkette headed to where she thought the door to be, but flushed in embarrassment when her kage so helpfully told her it was a little more to the right. 

  
  
  


She lied.

She didn't go back to the hospital. Instead, she started heading in the complete opposite direction. 

Sakura had reached the lowest point in her life, and it was all her fault. She had no one else to blame but herself. No longer could she use her eyes. They were useless. So useles. It made her question whether or not she was even cut out for this in the first place, for this life. 

So she went back to the beginning. 

Entering the Academy at the age of six, as everyone did, she found that even shinobi children were not above teasing, mocking, and bullies those that were considered less than themselves. The bullying of her larger than average forehead proved her the knowledge of just that. But one good thing that came from that, was that it allowed her to find distractions, or escapes, from such taunting, such as burying herself in an informative book or scroll. 

Many people probably though that she had worked hard in her academic studies to try to impress a certain Uchiha, but that was not the case. Far from it, actually. She found that she could retain information easily, and it distracted her from the cruel youth. In addition, she was even able to put her newfound knowledge to use when it came to her bullies often by the use of outsmarting them. 

Then, she had met Ino and the strange woman, who drew her out of her shell and made her feel more confident about her large forehead. But then again, things had taken a turn for the worst yet again. 

Because it was then that the females of the Academy had come across a forbidden and beautiful thing that made their heart flutter, including Sakura's. 

Boys. 

Namely, one Sasuke Uchiha. 

But she couldn't blame him for destroying the most positive relationship she had ever created. No. It was her own fault. She was naive, selfish, and prideful. Naive, because she had sacrificed her best friend over a stupid boy, (yes, she was still deeply in love with said boy but that was besides the point). Selfish, because she had not even considered Ino's feelings in the matter. For all she knew, that could have still been rivals but also friends. And then, the worst thing yet, she had become too prideful. Even after realizing her mistake, she never went back to fix it.

And then she had been put on a team with Naruto and Sasuke, with Kakashi as their jōnin sensei. That was when her doubts and self-depreciating thoughts began. During the bell test, she had utterly failed, even though she technically had been the one to give Naruto her food, despite the risk of failing. She had been beaten by a simple Hell Viewing Technique, and passed out when she saw Sasuke's head sticking out of the ground. It was simply idiotic of her. 

After that, they went on a few simple missions, which were pretty easy even though she contributed very little. 

And then, the latest mission. Sure, she had sensed the rogue nin that were watching them, but that was the only thing helpful she had done, and even then, Kakashi already knew about it. She had trouble hauling around containers of liquid that the boys easily picked up, and then she didn't even get the chance to fight after that because she got knocked out, and even worse, became blind. That led her to the discovering that she could never become a shinobi, and now she's being forced to give up her hitai-ate. It was absolutely shameful. 

  
  


Sakura's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a faint sound from somewhere to her left. It sounded almost like a bird, but there was something off about its call. 

  
  


The noise came again, but this time it was closer. So she made the stupid decision of straying off of the path that made her aware of where she was at, and headed towards the strange sounding call. 

The pinkette let out an 'oomph' when she suddenly ran into something, and it took a few moments for her to realize that she had ran face first into a tree. Before she could worry if anyone had saw that embarrassing moment, the noise came again, but from directly below her. 

Oh Kami, if she had taken one more step than she would have stepped on whatever was down there. 

Crouching down, she reached her hands out and carefully swiped her hands along the ground, until her right thumb came into contact with something warm and pliable. 

The same screech came again, and Sakura realized that the bird was hurt. Pity washed over her, and she frowned. If only she was able to see, then this would be so much easier, she thought.

But she didn't let that deter her. She put herself in the bird's place, and if she did, she would accept help from anyone.

"I'm going to help you," she whispered to the bird, even though she knew it wouldn't be able to understand her. 

Instead of a screech, there was a small squawk, almost as if the injured bird was responding to her. But that was a silly thought, and she pushed it out of her mind. 

"I'm afraid that I've become lost, so I won't be able to get you to an Inuzuka," she murmured, almost to herself. "But, that doesn't mean I can't try to help. After all, it's about time that I make myself needed and useful."

Sakura knew very little about medical jutsu, but the knowledge she had scraped up in her mind might be enough to suffice. 

"Let's see what's wrong. This might hurt a little," she warned, even though the bird couldn't understand her. That didn't matter though, she like talking aloud. It made her feel more secure and that was the only normal emotion she had felt in awhile.

Her hands carefully sought out the bird, and she found that it was larger than she originally thought. It was about the length of her torso. 

"Aha! There's the problem," Sakura said in triumph as she continued to feel the bird around. There was something wrong with its wing. If it was merely sprained, she should be able to fix it. But if it was broken, that was a whole different story, and would be impossible for her to fix.

A diagram of a wing came into her mind, and she quickly compared how the bird wing felt to how she remembered the picture being. Thank goodness she had shown in interest in the hawks that the Uchiha's always had around before they were.. gone. 

"Let's see.. I wonder if you're even able to move that wing around," she mused to herself, still carefully prodding the area. That was when the bird suddenly fluttered around, and that gave Sakura her answer. 

She breathed out in relief. "Phew, it's not broken. I'm guessing you either sprained it, or you just put too much strain on it."

From her meager understanding of medical ninjutsu, it requires a great deal of chakra control and intelligence. Luckily, the pinkette thought herself to have at least that. Since she had very little chakra, at least compared to Naruto or Sasuke, she was able to control hers better. Now, all that was left was applying her knowledge to real life stuff, such as healing this bird. 

Taking a deep breath, Sakura put both her left palm over the top of her right hand and hovered them over the injured wing. She closed her eyes, despite not being able to see anything anyways, and concentrated harder than she's ever done so before. 

Focusing on her core, she imagined that there's a fragile string connecting her soul to the birds, and she guides a steady stream of chakra to her hands. Even after a few minutes of nothing happening, she didn't give up. 

Ten more minutes pass, and there's a steady flow of sweat dripping from her neck. She could feel her chakra doing something, but it wasn't going to her palms. All that she was doing was exhausting herself. Although, she did notice that her ability to sense her chakra had somehow gotten even the slightest bit better.

Just as she's about to give up though, she finally feels a strange warmth in her hands, and she feels it flow out of her body. 

"Holy shit," she whispered excitedly, but still keeping her fragile concentration. "I'm actually doing it! And everyone thought I wouldn't be able to do anything since I'm-." She choked on her words. She didn't like saying the b-word. "—blind."

You're blind!? a voice in her head suddenly yelled, causing the pinkette to lose focus and scrambled backwards. 

What's going on?

Oh no, I'm not supposed to be communicating with humans! Kei's going to punish me even more now!

Then there was a loud squawk and Sakura instantly connected the dots. 

"You can speak!?" she shrieked. There was a short silence and a fluttering of wings, which made her scared that the bird had left. Although, that meant that she had done her job correctly, and the bird could actually use its wing. 

I'm not a simple bird, so quite labeling me as one! the voice shouted in indignation in her head. Despite how loud it was, Sakura was relieved that it didn't leave. 

There was then another annoyed sounding screech, as she shakily stood up and used a nearby tree for something to lean on.

"Well, if you're not a mere bird, then what are you? I am blind, as you can see and guess. Or, are you the one who can't see here," she snapped back, a little miffed that the creature had the audacity to snap at her like that when she had healed them. 

I- You're right; I'm acting ungrateful. You did heal me, and you're blind so you obviously can't see what I am. My apologies, the voice said, sounding guilty. 

Sakura sighed. It was also her fault. She should have been more patient. It just, today hasn't exactly been the best day for her. But then again, a talking bird? Seriously? Just-what even??

"All right, let's start over then," the pinkette started, attempting at a small smile. It felt like it's been forever since she's done that. "My name is Sakura Haruno and I was training to be a kunoichi bu-"

She was cut off by a different voice, not the one belonging to the bird that wasn't actually a bird. 

"Nico! I told you to stay out of the human's world!"

The world seemed to shift, and an intense wave of vertigo came over Sakura. Her arms and legs felt like jello, and she felt her face scrunching up in odd ways. Her hair was slapping her in the face, and her bandage was ripped away from her. Dizzying hands pressed against her forehead. It cradled, pressing into her eyelids and threatening to gag her throat. 

And suddenly, it stopped. 

Sakura collapsed on the ground, and noted how different it felt from the soft grass she was laying on before. Now, it felt like she was kneeling on rocks and dirt filled with roots. Quite frankly, she was sure she was in some pretty deep doo-doo here.

"Who dares enter here, and with my godson no less!" a loud, unfamiliar voice boomed, making the pinkette jump in surprise. Where had that come from?

Though Sakura didn't realize it, she had somehow found herself in a different place than Konoha. All around her, lay giant cliffs that gave away to crashing waves. The deep blue sky had not even a single cloud, and there were twin suns, as well as a bright, shining moon.

The loud voice belonged to a resident of that land, and not just any normal one. His name was Kei, and he was the Eagle King. He was huge, almost as big as the Hokage Tower. A crown of thorns sat upon his head, and strange runes lined his blue-tinted feathers and yellow beak. His glowing yellow eyes gave him the impression of a demon from hell. He gave off of one hell of an impression, to say the least.

Other lesser eagles of all and sizes were also perched around, staring at the Sakura in undisguised curiousity.

Of course, the pinkette was blind to all of this, metaphorically and literally.

"Wh-Who's there?" she shouted in a fearful whisper. She was somewhere unfamiliar with no eyes at all to help her. 

"Are you blind, brat!" Kei snapped, giving his wings an aggravated beat, using so much force that it pushed Sakura back to the ground. She let out a fearful whimper, making the great eagle suddenly stop and tilt its head in curiosity. 

"K-Kei-sama, please don't scare her.. She really is blind and accidentally came here with me w-w-when you summoned me back. I-It was my fault!" the bi- eagle that Sakura healed squeaked out, fluffing out his gray feathers in shame and guilt.

"Summon?" the pinkette whispered in disbelief, sitting back up on her knees and gazing upwards. Curiosity and confusion momentarily blocked out her fear. That would make some sense then..

That was when Kei finally caught sight of her hazy eyes, and he realized the human was in fact, blind. He sighed. This was indeed going to be troublesome, he thought to himself. 

"I apologize for scaring you, brat. But it has been a very long time since we have been in contact with humans, and it has been even longer since one of your kind has ended up in our world," the eagle king explained, lowering his massive wings.

Caws, squawks, and screeches of agreement followed, making Sakura flinch and become aware that she was surrounded. Though, the more she concentrated, the more she was aware that the land she was on was brimming with chakra. It almost threatened to consume. Nausea curled up in her stomach. 

She may have been blind, but her senses were no worse than they were before the incident. 

She took a shaky deep breath. "If I may ask, where exactly are we?" she asked hesitantly. Lots of wind blew here, and the suns was steadily shining down on her yet she didn't feel hot.

"You are in the eagle summons domain, often called Tōjinbō Cliff's. I am Kei, the Eagle King and Overseer of this land, as well as Nico's godfather, the eagle you came back with," Kei answered, taking a few steps forward which made the ground rumble. 

There was a squawk of fear and Nico, who thought Kei was still angry and would hurt the blind girl, quickly said, "The human healed me! My wing was sprained and she fixed it even though she couldn't see me!"

Kei stopped. "What is your name, girl?"

"Sakura H-Haruno," said pinkette answered, blinking her dulled eyes. 

"Sakura Haruno, I must thank you for healing Nico. He's quite the troublemaker, and is young, but he means well. And if I might ask, are you a Shinobi, since you were able to heal him and I sense a good amount of chakra within you?" the eagle asked, making Sakura flinch, which he found curious.

"I- uh, I used to be a genin. But due to a recent accident that caused my b-blindness, my kage told me to give up my hitai-ate because continuing down that path would be, uh, impossible," she replied quietly, trying not to let her tears out as the brunt of what that actually meant fully hit her. She didn't want to give up. She should have fought back, but it was too late now. 

Kei studied the silently crying girl. "Impossible is merely a word used by fools who are ready to give up," the eagle finally stated, making the pinkette' eyes widen in disbelief. 

She felt a flicker of something stirring inside of her that Kei easily saw in her swirled, blind eyes.

"I don't want to give up," she admitted. Something barely there was keeping her going. It pulled on her legs and arms, like a puppet. She was the puppet, and the strings weren't ready to snap just yet.

"Good. Then I will give you a chance."

I will give you a chance. 

Those words repeated over and over and her head. That's all she has been asking for, and maybe, just maybe, she could use the chance for something great. She quickly scrambled to her feet and bowed even lower than she had to her kage. 

"I would be honored for a second chance," she whispered, hardly daring to breath. 

Something soft touched her shoulder, making her jump, before she realized it was a large, warm wing guiding her up. 

"No need to bow, Sakura Haruno. Now, we are equals, and we will become your partners if you accept our offer," Kei said, and a scroll appeared in his talons, which he set on the ground in front of her.

His words ran through her head a few times before she realized what he meant. "Partners? You mean a summoning contract!?" she asked in disbelief.

The giant predator chuckled, amusement evident in his voice. "That's exactly what I mean."

Then very carefully, he guided her down and moved her hand so they were touching the summoning scroll.

"It's your decision. And remember what I said; only fools believe in the impossible. I hope to see you soon." 

After those words, Sakura felt her surroundings start to shift again, and she quickly grabbed hold of the scroll before her brain could work against her and lose this opportunity.

After her nauseating trip back to the real world, Sakura found herself in what she believed to be the same place that she had healed Nico, now known as the eagle king's godson. But she couldn't ponder on what had happened for long.

"Sakura-chan!" 

She was being hunted again. So she quickly put the scroll in the pocket of whatever she was wearing, and then cursed herself when she remembered that her bandage was gone. She made a mental reminder to buy a whole pack of them and keep them on her for situations such as this.

"Oh, there you are," a casual voice said from behind her. It was Kakashi. She quickly spun around, making sure to keep her balance, and stare blankly in what she hoped to be her old sensei's direction. 

"Uh, hi," she responded, giving a small wave. That was when she sensed Naruto's chakra run up beside Kakashi. "Hey, Naruto."

"How did you know it was me!?" the blond shouted in surprise. 

The pinkette shrugged. "You weren't masking your chakra. Oh, and does anyone have another bandage? I, um, seem to have lost mine."

Kakashi sighed. "If you had gone back to the hospital like Hokage-sama said, then you would've had all the bandages you like," he replied in a flat voice, though kindness still tickled at the edges. He seemed weary. 

She glared at him. She really hated that voice. It was like she was the one that was in the wrong. "Did you really expect me to go back after I've been told to hand in my hitai-ate?" 

Naruto gasped. "But- But you can't stop being a ninja!" he shouted. Well duh. Of course she could. But, she wouldn't. She didn't want to.

Sakura didn't feel like talking anymore. They were making her feel annoyed and like crap. It wasn't like she wanted to stop being a shinobi. That chance was taken away from her. 

But.. 

I will give you a chance. 

Kei believed in her. Maybe that was all that mattered. Not the opinions or beliefs of others. She ignored Naruto's question in favor of saying something else.

"Let's just go. I have a few things I need to take care of," she stated, and then proceeded to walk forward and brush past the the jōnin and genin duo.

A hand quickly grabbed onto her arm, making her stop. 

"You're going the wrong way!" Naruto told her, and then started dragging her in the opposite direction. Kakashi walked alongside them, making sure to keep an eye on his disabled stu- no, ex-student. He felt like a failure yet again. 

"So, what happened after I passed out," Sakura finally asked, wiggling her way out of Naruto grip and settling for just walking alongside him. 

The blond immediately told her, his voice growing even louder in excitement. After she got knocked out, Naruto had somehow channeled the Kyuubi that was inside of him, (he also told her about how he was the jinjuriki, and that was why people hated him), and broke out of the ropes. Sasuke had also activated his Sharingan at the sight of the passed out pinkette, and easily took out two of the rogue nin. Kakashi had set himself free and knocked out the rest of them, except for the leader who somehow escaped. He was currently being hunted down. 

At the end of the story, Sakura settled for a simple, "Oh. That's nice." 

They walked in silence for a few more minutes until Naruto spoke again. "I'm sorry about your hair, by the way."

The pinkette furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Ya know, how the leader of the rogue nin cut off some of your hair after he blinded you and threw you to the ground again," he answered casually.

Sakura stopped in her tracks. Her head had felt lighter for some reason. Bringing her hand up to run through her hair, she found that it was in fact shorter and cut uneven at the ends. Her hair now fell to just above her shoulder. 

"Damn," she said, and then started walking again.

Kakashi stared at her strangely, though she couldn't see it. "You don't seem upset," he said aloud, making her shrug. 

"I've actually been thinking of getting it cut for awhile now. It got too long," she simply said, making the two blink at her. It was a lie, technically. But she didn't want to make a big deal out of it. There were more important things on her mind. 

"Hey, I know where I am now. I gotta go do something real quick. I'll be back!" Sakura suddenly said, and veered off to the right. 

Naruto and Kakashi stared after the pinkette as she somehow??? dodged a tree she was about to run into. Sasuke finally decided to join the genin and jōnin a few moments later.

"She doesn't look too upset that she's no longer allowed to become a shinobi," the Uchiha commented in a low voice, narrowing his eyes. 

Naruto had to agree with him. "Yea, I guess. Though now that I think about it, Sakura-chan never really had much drive to become a kunoichi."

The two genin looked at Kakashi, who sighed again and looked up into the sky. "Maybe she has another calling waiting, something more suited for her."

Then they walked away, unaware that their voices had somehow carried over to the person they were talking about, who wanted nothing more than to disappear forever in that moment.

So that is what they think of me; that the shinobi life is not meant for me, she thought, and then began to make her way back to her house for hitai-ate.

  
  
  
  


Upon entering her house, Sakura carefully made her way to her room to where she knew her hitai-ate to be, since she knew her kaa-san brought it back here instead of leaving it at the hospital. 

Narrowly avoiding smacking her face on her open closet door, she decided that the first thing she would do would be to wrap her face. Life with no sight is going to be difficult, she thought haggardly to herself as she nearly tripped over something that was laying about.

After finally wrapping her eyes with a ripped up price of sheet from her bed to get a better sense of security, she moved onto the next thing she has to get done. 

The summoning scroll.

She sat on her knees and pulled it out of her pocket, sitting on the floor. Running her hands along the parchment after she spread it open, she noticed raised on areas that could only be the kanji of the contracts that others have made with the Eagles in the past, and she was going to add her name to it. 

Signing a contract with a summon included a few things. The first, and most obvious, was the agreement to this by both sides, the summonee, and the potential summoner. The second, was a blood offering, to sign your name with your finger of the hand that you bled from. This was the hand you would use to contact your summon. And last, was the actual ability to complete the process with a series of hand signs: boar, dog, bird, monkey, and ram.

"I can do this," the pinkette mumbled aloud, and she took a deep breath to study her nerves. She could do this. This would mark the time where she would change, and become a great kunoichi, even if she didn't have the support of others and her ex-team didn't believe in her. This had to be it.

First came the finger prints. She bit her thumb, and touched it to each finger. Then she pressed the bloodied digits to the scroll, though she had a feeling that it was a little lopsided. Next came signing her name, which was a little difficult. If she had to guess, her name probably looked even worse than the prints. But, it wouldn't matter.

Now, to see if she was actually capable of summoning one of the eagles. She knew that summoning took a great deal of chakra control and concentration, which she should be fine with. The part that worried her was if she even had enough chakra to do this. But all she could do was try. 

After practicing the hand signs carefully and making sure she wouldn't make a mistake, she was ready. 

Boar.

Dog. 

Bird. 

Monkey. 

Ram. 

Then she slammed her hand down on the ground, sending up a large pulse of chakra into the air around her.

There was a moment of silence. Then:

"Hey, you actually did it!" a familiar voice said, making Sakura grin. She did do it, and was able to summon Nico. 

She breathed out in relief. "Yes I did," she agreed, leaning back onto her arms. Then a question suddenly came to her, and she sat back up. "Why did you speak in my mind instead of talking aloud that first time we met?"

The eagle tilted his head and ruffled his wings in embarrassment. "Well, I really didn't mean to. I was just so surprised to find that you were blind and able to heal me, that I think my thoughts accidentally projected into yours. Also, I can only do that if I form a special bond with a person, and since you healed me, I think that sufficed ," he explained, musing at the last part.

Sakura shrugged, accepting the answer because she certainly wasn't an expert at summons and their ways. "I guess that makes sense."

"You told Kei-sama that your Kage wouldn't allow you to become a shinobi due to your disability, right?" Nico suddenly said, making his summoner frown and nod her head in confirmation. Then he continued, "What are you planning on doing about that? Will you really allow yourself to be beaten down that easily?"

At his curious but innocent question, Sakura pressed her lips tightly together in thought. That was a good question. The nurse had told her it would be impossible for her to become a shinobi, and the Hokage had agreed with that. But was that really true? The only thing preventing her from continuing in her training was her eyes; the fact that she was blind. 

She supposed that sight was important for a shinobi, and without it, many things could go wrong. Such as, not being able to read hand signs when silence was crucial for a mission.

But from those thoughts spawned an idea. "Not many people are blind, and those that do lose their sight are more often than not civilians, and if they were shinobi, they would retire early," she started, putting a contemplative finger to her chin. "Which means that nobody has actually seen the full potential of a blind shinobi using their other senses to their advantage. Everyone knows that when one sense is taken away, the others..," she trailed off, more and more ideas springing to mind. 

A full out grin spread across her mouth, and she jumped up in excitement. "That's exactly what I'll do!" she stated, confident now in what she must do. 

Nico had looked into her mind, and approved at what he found. His new - first - summoner was like nobody he's ever seen before-not that he's come across many humans to begin with. Her body may be weak and broken, but her mind was a sharp as a newly sculpted kunai. 

The pinkette scrambled around her room for a few minutes, before finally finding her hitai-ate (mostly thanks to Nico), and put it in her pocket. She wouldn't put it on just yet, seeing as she had a point to make.

She then held out her arm in the same manner that she used to see the Uchiha do when they were summoned, and Nico immediately took flight and landed on her arm. She winced as his claws dug into her flesh, and she just now noticed how big the eagle actually was. Her arm already aches and he was just so heavy. 

But that mattered little. She would just need something to put on her arm to protect her from the sharp talons, and carrying him around would improve what little strength she had. 

"Eagles have good eyesight, right?" the pinkette asked as they left the house to head towards the Hokage's Tower once again. 

The eagle summon chuckled almost evilly. "Of course we do, after all, we have the best sight in the animal kingdom. Fitting, isn't it?"

Sakura had to agree. A blind shinobi and her summon who had the best eyes. It was an oxymoron in itself. 

  
  


"You're getting a lot of strange looks," Nico commented a few minutes later, casually gazing around him at the pointing and staring people.

The pinkette shrugged. "I can feel their stares, but I guess everyone will have to get used to it, aye, partner?"

"Partner.. I like the sound of that."

  
  
  


Sakura stood in front of the Hokage's door and knocked without hesitation. If she was to go through with this, she couldn't show even a hint of doubt.

She heard a puff of smoke, and she had a feeling that an ANBU member was in front of her.

You are correct, Nico informed her from inside her mind. The mask clearly gave it away. 

"Please hold on a moment. Hokage-sama will be with you shortly," the ANBU said, his voice showing no emotion despite his politeness. He also did not show his curiosity at seeing the girl, seeing as he had been there earlier when the Hokage told her that she could no longer become a kunoichi due to her blindness. And now she is back, with her emotions in better check and the eagle perched on her arm. How strange. 

Sakura's lips lifted. "Of course. I'll gladly wait out here for as long as it takes so long as I get a chance to speak with him," she responded flashing her teeth. She felt coy somehow, her brief resentment making her words pretty. 

Such smooth words, the eagle huffed, leaning to the side to poke her cheek, that was puffed out in indignation at his statement, with his beak.

The trip waited a few minutes, until Sakura decided to ask the ANBU a question. 

"Your mask-" she began. "-are you able to see well through it?"

The ANBU tilted his head and stared at her in thought. "..My mask allows me to see the world clearly, yes." He didn't ask the reasoning behind the question, seeing as he had a good idea of what she was getting at.

The pinkette nodded in disappointment, but didn't say another word. 

The door suddenly opened, and the two both moved to the side. A good sized group of people stepped out of the room, and then halted in surprise when they saw Sakura.

"Whoa! What's with that bird!?" the familiar voice of Kiba yelled as he stopped directly in front of her. It seemed that she had come back when the Hokage had decided to meet with them again.

"He's not a bird, he's an eagle. And his name is Nico. Please excuse me, I'm sorry for the interruption," she answered, and then gave the people in front of her a short bow before quickly entering the room and closing the door, not allowing the curious genins to get any more questions in.

Sarutobi looked up from his large stack of papers when Sakura entered the room.

"Ah, I'm glad to see you here so soon," he said, smiling. "And if I may ask, that eagle on your arm, how did you come across it!"

The genin in question frowned, sensing how he thought she was naive and incompetent to things around her. That definitely wasn't the case anymore. 

"This is my partner and summon, Nico," she replied, her voice curling in amusement when she could practically taste the waves of surprise coming off her kage. Then she pushed the ugly feelings down and tried to be more placating. 

"Oh. I see. And how exactly did you acquire a summon?"

Sakura allowed a barely noticeable smirk to grace her face. "I was simply lending a helping hand and got rewarded for my obliviousness, and was also allowed a chance," she said, stressing the last word. 

But her lips twitched into a frown when her kage completely missed that part and moved on. "You have your hitai-ate I assume?"

The pinkette inwardly scowled, but kept her face blank as her fingers reached down to pull out her forehead protector. Nico took this as the signal to launch off her arm and land on his desk, making sure to accidentally spill an ink cartridge.

Sarutobi merely sighed, and quickly cleaned up the mess. Though when he looked back up, he noticed the yellow eyes of the eagle summon staring intently at him, which he wisely chooses to ignore. He focused his attention back on Sakura, who had arm hitai-ate stretched between both of her hands, with the front part facing down. 

"I will take this now," he said, and reached his hand out. The pinkette walked forward a few steps and leaned forward. Just as Sarutobi's finger grazed it, Nico slightly shifted and she suddenly pulled her hands back. "No," she said, her voice flat, as the elderly Hokage watched in shock when she swiftly wrapped the hitai-ate around her forehead, and pulled it tight. 

"No," she repeated. "I can accept the fact that I may never become great shinobi like my teammates definitely will, but I will not roll over like a dog and allow myself to be beaten. Even if I have nobody's encouragement or belief, I will become a respectable kunoichi!"

Sarutobi looked at her sadly. Her hands were clenched into fists at her side, and her chin was tilted up in defiance, though he could tell she was shaking.

He sighed, making Sakura flinch. "I wish that were the case, but it is impossible," he stated. 

There was that word again. Impossible. It cut her deeper than anything anyone has ever said before. It was funny how a simple word could affect her so much. She grit her teeth and tried to calm herself. As she counted to ten, the tension slowly left her. 

"Someone told me that only fools believe in the impossible; and I do not wish to remain a fool any longer," she whispered, her body finally slouching. All her previous frustration and anger had drained out of her, and she was left feeling tired. She was in desperate need of another nap. It seemed all the events of today were catching up to her.

"Please give me one week to prove to you that I can be useful to our village. I will become an experiment. I'm sure that there have been other high ranked shinobi that have had injuries that force them to retire, such as the loss of one of their senses, such as I. And if this fails, only then will I willingly give up my hitai-ate," she finished, slumping forward into a submissive bow. After all, she still had to show respect even when defying the wishes of the leader of her village. 

The silence that ensued stretched on, and she willed herself not to straighten up or panic. 

Do not fret. He's merely thinking, Nico assured her, and relief washed over her. So he wouldn't immediately dismiss her offer after all. 

After a few minutes more of terse silence, the kage spoke. "Stand up, young Sakura. I must admit, your idea is not a bad one. Unexpected, yes, but not bad. Though, if you do go through with this, you are aware that you cannot return to your team, right?" he asked, and Sakura could tell there was a sort of awkwardness to his tone. 

She narrowed her eyes, suspicious. "Well..," she trailed off, figuring an internal battle. On one hand, she knew logically that their methods would no longer with her - as if they even worked in the first place. If she was out somewhere else, then maybe she could learn. But.. Team Seven was familiar. They had been close to becoming her second family, another home that she could escape to when her mother made accidental-sexist comments or when her dad found himself in a depressive slump on those rare occasions. 

"Unfortunately Team Seven is gaining another teammate to replace your spot. She's a little bit of a special case and has specific needs that this team would help nurture," the Kage's voice didn't waver, even when Sakura clenched her jaw. He continued, "Also, Team Seven will not work for you. You must do this one on your own. No team, only yourself and whatever help you must employ." 

Sakura trembled, bit her lip until she could taste metal, and nodded. 

“Okay. Alright. So no team for me then. Does this mean you accept?" she said.

"You have one week," was all he said. That one sentence managed to get her to crack a shaky smile. Relief washed over her. 

"Thank you so much. I promise you won't regret this," Sakura said, bowing once more. Then she nodded to her kage again before holding out her arm, the opposite one than before this time since it was sore and tender. Nico immediately took his place on her arm and they headed towards the door. 

She suddenly stopped, her hand inches away from the doorknob. "Cha! Screw that, I'm not going through that tonight," she said, referring to the several familiar chakra signatures on the other side of the door that were clearly trying to eavesdrop. If only she had noticed that sooner.

She turned her head towards her partner. "Can we?" was all she asked. And then she got the distinct feeling that Nico was smirking, or as close as an eagle could without a human mouth. 

"Oh, we can."

"Phew, thank goodness," she said, walking away from the door and passing the Hokage's desk, towards where the windows were. 

Sarutobi let out a groan as he watched Nico talk Sakura through unlatching said window. 

"Please tell me you're not doing what I th-"

But she already jumped out the window.

Sarutobi quickly scrambled out of his chair and to the open window, where he saw the blind pinkette being carried off by her peculiar summon in the direction of the hospital. 

Then he turned his attention to the door, where there stood people behind it that Sakura apparently didn't want to face.

He suddenly paled.

"What have I done," he whispered to himself. He had crushed a genin's dream just this morning, and now he had just agreed to make this same blind, impulsive girl an experiment of the village. What had he done, indeed.

  
  
  


And Kei, who was in the middle of cleaning himself, was filled with a certain type of warmth that made his feathers shiver and his bones rattle. His facial expression twisted into something almost pleasant and heartbroken. 

"Please don't let me lose another.."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m still figuring out how to use ao3 lol
> 
> Like, how can I enter my chapter into the text thing and NOT have to go over it again to italicize certain words?? I’m on mobile and it doesn’t seem to like me.. :”)


	3. on a great

"You can't make me stay here forever!" Sakura complained, crossing her arms over her practically non-existent chest and turning away from her mom in indignation. 

Mebuki sighed. "You know I only want what's best for you. And you already got lots of scrapes and cuts on you from just attempting to walk around yesterday. Shin also said you've also shown impulsive tendencies," she pointed out, talking about how the pinkette had carelessly jumped out the window. 

"But I asked what floor we were on.."

The frazzled and worried mother continued on as if the pinkette hadn't spoken. "Not to mention you scared the daylights out of quite a few people when you decided to try to jump out of the top floor of the Hokage Tower. What were you thinking!?"

Holding in a groan, Sakura rested her face in the palms of her hands. Ever since she had returned last night, her mom has been hovering protectively over her and not allowing her to do anything. Don't get her wrong, she appreciated it, but sometimes it was just way too much. 

Plus, she was feeling even more snappy due to the fact that yes, she was blind, and things haven't been easy. Moving around and always running into things, forgetting where she put her stuff and having to get someone to help her find it, and even doing simple things such as getting her own food has developed into tedious tasks. 

"Mother, "she started sharply, raising her head and getting said womans attention. "I have exactly one week to show the Hokage that I can be of use, that I can become a kunoichi, even without my sight. I understand you're worried, but I really need to do this."

Mebuki frowned, looking at her only child. "But why would you want to?"

The question hung in the air, and Sakura's eyes widened. Why would she want to prove to the Hokage that she could actually become a shinobi? Was she serious!?

Her mom spoke again, her voice confused. "Why would you want to continue to do something that took your sight? Being a kunoichi is hard work. Do you really have it in you to do this considering you've already become blind?"

Ouch. That hurt. That really hurt.

Now it wasn't just her kage, teammates, and sensei that doubted her, it was her own mother as well. And for all she knew, her father felt the same way. Of course, she didn't know his opinion on this because he was forced to stay back in the village her parents were in before this all happened, while only Mebuki was able to come. He would be home within a few days though. 

The door suddenly opened, and Mebuki remained oblivious to her daughters feelings as someone came in with a clipboard in their hands. Sakura instantly recognized Shin's chakra. 

"I have good news and bad news, Haruno-san and Sakura-san. I'll give you that bad news first," the male nurse started. "The bad news, is that you will have slight scarring on your skin, especially around your eyes and you will have to come back here every once in awhile for checkups to make sure you don't have any skin problems. Burns or any type of skin spots that are exposed for the sun too long can develop into cancer. But fortunately, that is all. The good news, is that you can be released whenever you want to, Sakura, as long as you have your mother's permission of course."

The pinkette quickly whipped her head to Mebuki's direction, silently daring her to refuse. Thankfully, she didn't. 

"I suppose I can bring her back home if you say she's fine," Mebuki decided warily, glancing from smiling Shin to the suddenly grinning Sakura. 

The pinkette quickly jumped off her bed, have her mom an obligatory hug, thanked Shin, and unexpectedly-definitely expected considering yesterday's events-jumped out of the hospital window.

Again. 

As she flew through the air, she quickly preformed five specific hand signs and and landed on the ground in a crouch, with her hand pressed into the hard cement. 

There was a loud poofing sound, and then a flap of wings was heard. 

"Sakura Haruno! You get back here this instant!"

Nico and Sakura blanched as the people that were milling around stopped to stare at them. 

"You jumped out of a window again, didn't you," the eagle summon stated. The pinkette let out a nervous laugh, giving him his answer.

"Eto... Oops?"

Nico sighed. "Well then, we better go before that crazy lady catches us," he said, and then landed onto her outstretched arm. "Where to, partner?"

The pinkette took a moment to think as she began to quickly walk away, making sure to keep her senses spread all the way around her. She didn't want to run into anyone again. Or anything.

That tree really did hurt.

"Several places actually. First, I need to go to some shops to get some sort of arm protectors because of your sharp talons and a few other things, and I definitely need to stop at the library," she mused aloud. 

Her arms were actually quite sore from hauling around Nico yesterday, but it was a pleasant type of pain. Her muscles burned with the satisfaction that they were actually doing work for once, and she was looking forward to making them stronger. Which meant.. no more unconventional dieting. She supposed she needed to actually eat so her muscles wouldn't become starved. 

"So that's why you felt so light when I carried you," Nico commented, making the pinkette roll her eyes from under her bandage. Oh, that reminded her. 

"I'll also need something better to cover my eyes. I've found that this material falls off to easily," she said, counting another thing she needed off on her fingers of her free hand. 

Nico tilted his head, puzzled. "Why do you feel the need to cover your eyes?"

That was a good question. If wasn't like she needed to but.. 

"There's this sense of security, like a kid with a blanket or stuffed animals. Without it, my eyes are wide open for people to see, and I guess it feels like come sort of odd sheild in a way? I dunno, it's kinda hard to explain."

Her foot scuffed the ground as she walked, embarrassed that she had just blabbed something like that. 

"I used to keep my mom's feather with me for the longest time after she died. I'm guessing that's natural," Nico said in an understanding voice. He then let out a soft cooing sound that made Sakura smile. She felt much better now.

After a few minutes of walking, the two arrived at a well known shinobi apparel shop, and the girl hesitantly entered. She had never been here before, so she didn't know the layout of it and was afraid of knocking something down. 

"Just follow my directions and I'll guide you to the lady that's behind the counter in the back, alright?" Nico instructed, gazing around. 

The pinkette nodded, and within a few minutes she made it safely with the help of her summon.

"E-excuse me," she stammered out, not sure if her head was facing the right direction. 

The woman at the counter was older, most likely in her late sixties, but she seemed to have aged well. Silver hair fell in waves to her back, and her blue eyes gleamed in the natural light coming through the large front windows.

When she heard a young females voice, she quickly dropped the r-rated book she was reading and looked up. But, as it turned out, she didn't need to worry about young eyes accidentally looking at mature reading material, because the pink haired girl in front of her had her eyes covered up by an ugly looking bandage. 

"Hello, dear. How may I help you?" she asked, wisely not saying anything about the eagle on her arm or her covered face. 

Sakura quickly licked her suddenly dry lips before replying with, "U-Um, I was wondering if you could help me get a few things? I would do it myself, but.. that's a little out of the question. I need something to replace these bandages and something else to protect my arms from when I'm holding Nico."

At the last part said eagle summon let out a little squawk and pressed the side of his face to the pinkette's cheek, his way of agreeing with her. She wrinkled her nose and pushed his head away from her with her free hand. He smelled like fish. 

'Wow, rude.'

"Of course, I'd be glad to help!" the elderly woman cheerfully said, waddling around the corner to take Sakura's free hand. "Oh, and I'd be happy to help you pick out some decent clothes to~"

The pinkette halted in her track, squinting her covered eyes. "Decent clothes?"

An amused laugh came from the woman as she pulled the genin moving again. "Yep," she quipped. "That shade of red definitely doesn't go with your beautiful hair, plus, your current clothes don't provide much camouflage when on missions. Trust me, dear, I know these things. I was an excellent kunoichi back in my day," she rambled on with a big smile that lacked several teeth.

The next hour was filled with Sakura being forced to try on several things. And she could only trust the word of her mischievous summon and an old lady she just met to make sure she looked alright. She might not have been able to see herself, but that didn't mean that she didn't care about her looks. 

In the end, the woman, whose name was Riba Enkin, and Nico finally chose a few new sets of clothes for the blind genin. That included a longsleeved mesh top that was paired with a forest green half top and gray pants, a teal shirt with a black pair of shorts, and a few other random items that would get sorted through later. 

The thing that came next was something to protect her arms for when she was carrying Nico. After several tests, the pair finally decided on a nice set of leather gauntlets with special material on the underneath that wouldn't chafe her arm. As a bonus, it also soaked in any sweat her pores would produce in the future from training or other physical things.

"We're onto the last thing now. To find you something to put over your eyes," Riba stated, pulling the pinkette behind her once again as they bumbled around the surprisingly large shop.

A deft hand quickly unwound the bandages that were around Sakura's face, and she quickly snapped her eyes shut before anyone could see their appearance. She was afraid that they looked freaky and it would give another reason for people to make fun of her.

'Trust me, they don't,' the eagle summon tried to reassure her, but she still kept them closed, and thankfully, Riba didn't ask any questions about them or tell her to open them.

"Let's see, I think we are going to go with white, since that color matches everything and I know it looks good on you," the shopkeeper started mumbling to herself and dug around the shelves. 

Something suddenly got wrapped around her face, and she had to stop herself from jumping in surprise. After the piece of cloth was tied in the back, she brought her hand up to feel the material. 

"Whoa, that feels nice," she murmured, running he fingers along the fabric. It was soft, but it wasn't the type of material that would make you sweat in the heat. And it also soaked up any liquid if she were to actually sweat. And after a few tests that consisted of her jumping up and down and bobbling her head, she found that it stayed secured to her head without any trouble at all.

And so the trio made their way back to the counter and Sakura pulled out her bulging wallet. She had been saving up money for awhile now, and was never in a hurry to buy anything. Until now, that is. 

"How much will everything be?" she asked, ready to pull out the wanted amount out of her butterfly wallet.

A hand stopped her from unzipping it though. "No, no. This is on me. I haven't had this much fun in awhile," Riba insisted, smiling at the surprised look on Sakura's face.

"But.."

"Not buts, dear. You get everything free as long as you promise to come back."

"O-Okay. I promise then."

Finally, the pair entered the library and went straight to the genin section, since that's the only place they were allowed to go, not counting the civilian area.

'What types of scrolls and books are you hoping to find?' Nico asked, before leaning down to peck at a loose string that was on her shirt. 

She shrugged, carefully making her way to one of the shelves. "I'm not entirely sure yet.. Oh, I really hope I can do this," she whispered, nervousness evident in her tone.

She had only a week to prove that her blindness would not slow her down. She would need as much help as she could get.

In the end, she ended up picking out several books on chakra, a scroll on hundreds of famous shinobi, and-

"Shit!" she hissed when she ran her knee into the corner of a table that she definitely did not know was there.

Nico had the decency to hold in an amused snort, but his comment didn't help at all. "You really are as blind as a bat."

Scowling, the pinkette reached her hand up to swipe playfully at the summon, but suddenly stopped when an idea came to her. She grinned, and instead patted Nico gently on the head. 

"That's perfect! Great thinking," she said excitedly, and limped to the civilian part of the library after depositing her other books at an empty table. 

Nico blinked. "Huh?" 

"I'm as blind as a bat, just like you said, right?" she asked, running her finger along the spines of books carefully, looking for a certain one. She was lucky that the kanji was slightly raised so she didn't need any help reading it.

"Yes? You are most definitely as blind as-"

"Aha, found it! Bats And Echolocation," she read aloud.

And the summon finally understood. 

"That's actually pretty smart."

Sakura grinned again and brought the book back to her large pile, and she settled into one of the seats. Nico made his spot on top of the table and dragged over one of the books on chakra control to read.

Most of the books and scrolls in Konoha were made by hand, which meant that they used ink to write and draw with. That meant that the kanji, diagrams, ect. were slightly raised from the actual paper, allowing the pinkette to trace her finger over it with her fingertips and read.

The book that she picked out was a thick one, and had several chapters. Calls and ecology, acoustic features, frequency, frequency modulation and constant frequency, intensity, harmonic composition, call duration, and many, many more things.

She suddenly let out a low whine and set her face on the table, weaving her fingers through her hair and tugging. "How do people know this much about bats!? There's like a million things in here!"

Nico made a big show of fluffing up his feathers and bring his wings into a half circle over his head. "Science, my dear," he said dramatically as he brought his wings back down.

Sakura grimaced and went back to her reading. She had a feeling that she'd be here for awhile.

Most bats actually aren't blind, but they do use something called echolocation to hunt and forage for food in the dark. The bats pushed air past their vibrating vocal cords to create a sound wave. These sounds are so high in frequency that no human could hear. (That was a good thing for Sakura because stealth was important.)

They (bats), have one transmitter, (themselves), and two receivers, (their ears). When their soundwaves hit an object, they come bouncing back, and that allows them to use the arrival time, intensity, and frequency content of echo returns to determine the distance, direction, and features of the objects around them.

And that was only the basis of it. She had so much more she had to research. Maybe she'd get a scroll to write down all that she was learning and could use the information for later..

She suddenly perked her head up when she heard a rough sounding cough. Someone must be in here. Though, judging by the distance of the sound, they were probably in the chūnin or jōnin part of the library. 

When she focused all of her attention on the direction that the person was in, she noticed that there was something off about their chakra. 

'It's sickness; a disease that's spreading. Can't you smell it?' Nico asked, studying his summoner carefully. 

Furrowing her eyebrows, she took a big sniff of air, and her eyes widened from under the cloth. The vague scent of death filled her nostrils, mixed with flowers and herbs. That meant that they were trying to cure the sickness with some type of concoction. 

"H-How am I able to do that?" she asked in a hushed whisper. It was almost unreal!

The eagle summon tilted his head. "You said it yourself. When one sense is taken away, the others are magnified. Since you no longer have use of your eyes, your sense of smell, touch, hearing and taste are slowly being heightened. In this case, you can smell the sickness," he explained. 

The coughing of the unknown shinobi continued. Sakura frowned, slowly becoming worried despite the fact that she knew they were being treated.

"Do you think they'll be okay? They don't sound too well.."

"I think they'll be fine. Though if you want to, you could probably add this somehow to the week that you have," Nico suggested, confusing Sakura. 

"How would I do that?"

"Think of it as training. You can watch them, observe their chakra with your heightened senses, see exactly what is wrong with them, and possibly see what medics they're using. It would help with your analytical skills, you can learn how to hide your presence, and you can help strengthen your sense of smell, hearing, taste, and touch."

Sakura gaped. "Wow. That's actually really smart," she stated, making the summon ruffle his feathers in pride. Then Nico slumped. 

"Actually? Did you think I wasn't before!?" 

Then a different noise caught their attention.

Grrrr!

The girls hand went to her growling stomach. "I need some food. I guess we can take a break and get some lunch."

"Yes! Food!"

A few minutes later, Nico and Sakura were walking along the main road, looking for a place to eat. 

'I found a family of mice over in that alley. I'll catch you later!' the eagle summon said to her in her head before taking flight and leaving her all alone.

Rolling her eyes at his sudden departure, the pinkette finally picked out a place that sounded appetizing. It was a grill that many of the genin teams went to, and they gave you a lot of food for a low price. 

"Is that you, Sakura-chan?" a familiar and not entirely welcome voice called out. It was safe to say that she was a little miffed about her old teams comments about her. Especially Naruto, because she honestly thought he would stand by her. Turned out that wasn't true. 

Forcing her lips into a smile, she made her way to the table in the back that held three familiar chakra's, and one unfamiliar one. If she had to guess, she would say that the extra person was the new teammate. 

On one side of the table sat Kakashi and the new person, and on the other side was Naruto and Sasuke. 

A hand (Naruto's) suddenly snatched Sakura's, and she was suddenly sitting in between the boys. Nervousness, panic, and jealousy filled her. 

"It's good to see you, Sakura," Kakashi said, giving her a closed eye smile she couldn't see. 

Yea right. You just saw me yesterday, and I'm sure you don't want me distrupting your new teammate, or spreading my uselessness to them, she thought with an inward scowl though kept her face blank. 

'Now don't be bitter,' Nico chided her, making guilt and shame fill her.

Oops. 

So she put on a faux smile, and decided to go a different route than self degradation. "Oh, but you guys just saw me yesterday," she started, tilting her head. "And after I left, I believe I caught some saddening comments you three made. But, I'm sure they meant nothing."

She was obviously referring to the things they said yesrerday, when they thought she was out of hearing range. And now, she just wanted them to feel at least a little bad. 

Sakura didn't see the way Naruto's face paled, the way Kakashi frowned, or the even the way Sasuke's finger twitched, but she did feel the shame coming off of them. And then she decided that was enough. She wasn't actually a mean person. 

"Well, that's enough about me. Today should be about your new teammate, correct?" 

Ah, so she was right.

"H-hah, hah, y-ye-"

The pinkette held up her hand, and Naruto quit his stuttering. She could practically taste the tension coming off of her old teammate. They probably thought she was going to explode soon. But that wasn't the case. She had better control of her feelings than that. ..Maybe.

"Oh, we should play a game. I'll guess things about the newcomer and for everyone I get right, you have to pay a portion of my meal, and for everyone I get wrong, I'll pay a portion of your meal, does that sound fair? This way, you guys can also learn things about them," Sakura offered, flashing her teeth.

'Good idea. Relive the tension and you might get a free meal.'

"Deal!" Naruto immediately accepted. 

"Good," Sakura started, and focused on the person in front of her. 

"Female?"

"Correct."

Damn. A spark of anger and jealousy flashed through her, but she pushed it aside. The girl had a really nice voice. It was soft and sweet, almost like Hinata's in a way, but somehow stronger.

Then the pinkette took a discrete sniff of air.

"You use watermelon shampoo."

Cue the surprised pause. 

"I- um, yea. How did you know?" the girl asked, confusion clear in her voice. 

Sakura smiled. "Easy. I smelled it. It's actually quite strong now that I think about it. But that's probably just me. Next one now. Let's see.." she trailed off, and then focused hard on the girls chakra to see if she could learn anything from it. 

There. She found something. 

"Give me your hand," she instructed, and held her own hand out for the girl to take. Very hesitantly, she put her hand in the open hand, and Sakura's fingers quickly found a certain place on the palm of her hand.

"You've recently been to the hospital and had your hand healed after you hurt it somehow," she stated. 

The girl drew her hand back and hid it in her chest, frowning. "Yes actually. That's true too. How did you know that? I thought you were blind," she said, her voice almost defensive for some reason. 

"There's a faint chakra residue on your hand that isn't your own. And I'm going to pretend that you didn't say anything about my eyesight, kay, sweetie?" Sakura replied, putting up a peace sign and giving an innocent smile.

'I see she's not the only one getting defensive,' Nico decided to throw in his two-sense. 

Hey, it's not her fault she said that. She was still trying to deal with the fact that she would be blind for forever and this chit had taken her spot on the team she was growing to love, despite Kakashi's laziness and Naruto's idiotic tendencies. (Sasuke wasn't included because he could never do anything wrong.)

'Is that a crush I smell?' the summon asked, surprise. But Sakura didn't answer, she was still glowering at the female in front of her.

"Okay, Sakura and Akira, how about we just order," Kakashi finally decided to cut in, not wanting a cat fight break out. 

So Akira is her name, eh? Sakura thought, trying to imagine what she looked like. Maybe a blond like Ino, but with a big bust and butt. Or, a shy brunette with no curves at all and glasses. OR, a spunky blue haired chick who was pretending to be soft spoken and was actually undercover and trying to gather intel to bring back to her boss.

'Whoa there, I'm sure she's not that last one,' Nico said, and Sakura could imagine him sweatdropping. 

"So, Sakura, was it?" Akira began to talk, irking the pinkette when she didn't use an honorific. "Where's your hitai-ate?"

Now, Sakura knew that the girl was playing dumb. She must have known how she was able to suddenly able to get a spot on an genin team. She felt Naruto stiffen, and the chakras of Kakashi and Sasuke pulsed. And now that she thought about it, her old team and the girl must not know about the week deadline she has, her second chance. They must think that she actually gave up. 

How ignorant.

She suddenly laughed, the sound filled with bitterness and amusement that surprised team seven. After her fit subsided, she reached under her cloth to wipe away nonexistent tears. 

"Ah, sorry about that. Dunno what got into me there-"

'Heh, liar.'

"-though if you really want to know, it's right here." And she pulled her hitai-ate out of her pocket, letting it dangle off her fingertips almost mockingly in front of the team. The edge of her mouth pulled up into a smirk. Okay, so maybe she we just a little bit bitter about this whole thing. 

'I'll say,' Nico snorted.

"B-But I thought the old man said you couldn't be a shinobi anymore, dattebayo!?" Naruto shouted, puzzled. Even the other three were confused at this turn of events.

Sakura shrugged. "Maa, that's what he said at first. But I may have managed to change his mind about that," she explained, putting her hitai-ate back in her pocket.

The reason she wasn't wearing it was because she didn't want Konoha to be shown in a bad light if visitors came around and they saw Sakura wasn't doing well. Also, it didn't feel right to be wearing it if nobody thought she deserved it. It was entirely unselfish, and she planned to wear her hitai-ate as soon as the Hokage believes for himself that she can become a kunoichi Konoha could be proud of.

There was a sound that came from Akira that sounded like a scoff, but nobody said anything about it. "And how exactly did you persuade Hokage-sama otherwise?" the girl asked.

"Simple really. I-" 

But she cut herself off when Nico suddenly let out a loud squawk and said, 'The target has just passed me. And wow, he doesn't look good. Sunk-in cheeks and bags under his eyes. Probably hasn't had a decent sleep in awhile if I had to guess.'

"Cat got your tongue, Sakura-chan?" Akira asked, bringing the pinkette back to the conversation at hand. Oh, she sounded like she suddenly woke up on the wrong side of bed. It's probably because she feels her spot on the team isn't guaranteed because Sakura could possibly take it from her in the future. 

The pinkette grinned, giving the people at the table a peace sign again. "Not cat, more like eagle. But I actually can't stay and have this lovely chat right now. My target is on the move, and Nico seems to be about ready to knock him out to get him to sleep, and I don't feel like dealing with that right now," she said, and vaulted almost gracefully over the table.

'Hey, I was just saying he looked to be in great need of a nap, nothing more,' the eagle summon defended himself, making her snort. Then she pulled out her wallet, pulled out a good amount of money, and set it on the edge of the table. There, she was actually making good use of her saved up money. Oh, she certainly had fun here, despite the everything. She felt different somehow, more free. And maybe that had something to do with her tongue becoming a little bit more loose than people were accustomed too, but she liked it. 

"I know I technically get a free meal, but I'm feeling generous. Make sure you eat up. Cya later!" Sakura said with another grin and spun on her heel. 

But that was a mistake, because her foot ended up swinging the wrong way, making her fall backwards. Fortunately, she was able to fall into a backbend (thank goodness for how flexible she was) and flip herself back over so she was right side up again.

Phew, thank goodness I didn't hurt myself. That would have been embarrassing. I hope nobody was paying atretention to that , she thought, and then quickly exited the grill without looking back to notice the shocked expressions of her old team.

In their eyes, they saw Sakura smoothly dodge getting smacked in the face by a tray that an incoming waitress was carrying. But let's just let them continue thinking that was what actually happened..

'Oh no! The target shunshined away!' Nico cried out, flapping his wings in panic as she quickly flew to his summoner, slightly slowed down by his full stomach.

"No! We're never going to find him now!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is most likely unedited. I haven’t returned to writing this but I figured that people would want to read it, no matter how shitty it is. I’ll try to post the rest of the chapters that I have written and thank you for your patience ❤️
> 
> I also haven’t figured out a faster way to edit the text on here for when I paste it and the italicization disappears from the original so.. My apologies for that.


	4. horse of gold

They lost him for the third time that day.

Every time Nico and Sakura would get close to their target, he would just disappear. All that they learned about him was his name:

Gekkou Hayate.

But that was all, besides his obvious jōnin stature.

"This is a lot harder than I thought it would be," the pinkette groaned, resting under the shade of a large tree, with the eagle summon roosting up on a low hanging branch. Her forearm was covering her red, sweating face.

It was the afternoon now, and a cool breeze swept through the trees, causing bells to ring in the distance.

"Here, here. It's like every time we get close to him, he senses us, and then uses that damn shunshin to get away," he complained, flapping his wings in irritation.

There was a pause, and then another groan from the pinkette.

"That's just it. He probably can sense us because we haven't been disguising our chakra.. Idiot, I should have realized it before," Sakura berated herself, and put her head into her hands, before pulling away her arms in disgust. She was really sweating.

The eagle summon spread out his wings and stepped off the branch, drifting down to the pinkette's spot and resting his head on her knee in comfort. "Don't be too hard on yourself. After all, this is training and you're bound to make some mistakes. All that you can do now is learn from them," he said in assurance.

Sakura nodded. He was right. This was what being a genin was all about. It was a learning process, where you either utterly fail, or you pass. And since she had already hit rock bottom, the only place she could go was up.

Only fools believe in the impossible.

She would not be a fool, not again. The weak and useless Sakura was in the past. She disappeared the same day the use of her eyes did. Now, is where she would start over.

"Disguising my chakra," she started, raising her head and weaving her fingers together in her lap, "requires perfect chakra control and the ability to know your own chakra. The best way to do this is to preform exercises that strengthens your chakra control, such as walking on water or up something without you hands or falling. Mediation also helps to memorize and become familiar with the way it works."

"What scroll did you swallow?"

Sakura childishly stuck her tongue out at the summon, who laughed in return.

"If you must know, I've read a lot of books on chakra due to my infatuation with Tsunade-sama, the Slug Sannin, and strongest kunoichi in the land. She also is the best medic," she explained, putting a finger on her chin in thought. "And even though I've read about a lot of things and understand how they work, doesn't mean I'll actually be able to do then. But I guess all that I can do is try," she finished with a loud sigh.

There was a big difference about reading in depth something and actually executing the move perfectly.

Standing up, Sakura forward to stand well away from the tree and turned back to face it. This would be the tree that she would test her chakra control and run up it with no hands.

"I believe in you, partner!" Nico crowed helpfully, and moved out of the way to go back to his branch.

The pinkette snorted, and smiled sadly. "You almost sounded like Naruto there for a second," she murmured, and then shook herself out of it. There was no use getting herself down about something that she couldn't help.

So she focused on where the tree was, took a few moments to gather her chakra to her feet, and started running towards the tree.

And running.

And running.

And still running.

She stopped in confusion. "Where the hell did the tree go!?"

Nick sweatdropped from his perch in said tree. "Um, your path curved and you ended up missing the tree entirely," he tried to helpfully explain.

But that caused the poor pinkette to emit another loud groan in frustration. Things like this just kept happening, over and over and over again. "Damn it! I can sense the chakra of people and animals and avoid them, but other things have too little chakra!"

"Don't fret. After all, you are working on that echolocation thing that will help. So just try again until then!" the eagle summon chirped, making Sakura nod begrudgingly and carefully make her way back to the tree.

She made sure to keep Nico's chakra in front of her so she knew where the tree was and wouldn't get sidetracked again. And then she started walking, which soon broke into a steady jog. Her right foot pressed into the trunk of the tree, and her left foot immediately followed. And she still continued running, up, up, up, to the very top of the tree. Gravity pressed down on her, but she refused to let it win.

"You did it! I knew you could!" Nico yippee in pride making Sakira grin when she reached the top of the tree. She held on to the very top, and breathed in the fresh and undisturbed air that rushed past her.

She succeeded the first exercise to be able to disguise her chakra. It marked the first of many future firsts.

The next exercise would prove to be a little more difficult: walking on water. To do this, the pinkette brought a change of clothes for when she was done, because she doubted it would be fun walking around soaking wet and creating puddles wherever she went.

"At least the water will be warm," Nico pointed out as the pinkette stood tensely in front of the hot spring. She had taken off her head-cloth, shoes, and her red dress, leaving her in leggings and a black sports bra. She made sure her hair was pulled up in a tight ponytail, and then she was ready to go.

She walked to the edge, and dipped her big toe in the water. A pleasant shiver erupted along her spine, and she thought she wouldn't be too upset if she ended up falling in.

Rolling her shoulders, Sakura went thorough a list in her head if what she needed to do. Just like the tree exercise, she needed to focus her chakra on the bottom of her feet. But if she concentrated too much, then she knew she would end up falling in, the same if she were to concentrate too little.

"Okay, let's go."

And her foot left the safety of the ground, and hovered over the warm water. As her foot barely hovered above it, she made her other foot follow.

...She fell in.

Disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. Water was different from a tree. While a tree trunk was solid, and didn't move, while the water was always fluctuating and never stayed the same. So she figured she would have to move her chakra to sync with the ripples of the water.

She tried again.

It was a full minute that she stayed on top of the water, before she lost concentration because Nico startled her by unexpectedly trying to perch on top of her head. This time, she wasn't the only one to fall in.

A drenched bird of prey and a pink haired experiment genin pulled theirselves out of the water, giggling. 

"Hah, karma's a bitch, isn't she," Sakura said in amusement, much to the eagle summons distaste. 

He scowled. "Language, missy," he scolded bitterly, making her laugh again.

"As if you're any better."

After that, Sakura practiced walking on the water until she was even able to focus her chakra to her hands and walk like that, with her feet handing in the air.

A half hour later, she collapsed beside the dozing summon and allowed the warm sun to dry her skin. Unfortunately, her clothes stayed damp, so she had to change into the dry ones she brought. It was the mesh-top with the green half-shirt and black pants. (Or at least that's what Nico told her.) Her shoes and head-cloth was dry, so she put those back on, and she liked her hair into a messy bun, not wanting the wet ends to stick unpleasantly to her neck.

"I think I might be ready to hide my chakra," she announced, and then proceeded to flop on the ground with her legs underneath her.

The eagle summon nodded. "Well, while you do that, I'm going to leave for a bit and see if I can get Kei-sama to train me. I don't want to be the one holding you back in the end when we go on a dangerous mission," he said.

Sakura's heart warmed when he said when they go on a mission, and not if. He was one of the few people that actually thought she was capable of something, and she was grateful for it.

"Maa, you're gonna make me blush," Nico said in embarrassment. "And of course I think your capable! After all, Kei-sama hasn't allowed a shinobi to summon us in over a decade because he considered them all fools!"

She smiled. "I'll see you later then," she said, and he poofed out of existence soon after.

After he left, the pinkette relaxed her body, slightly tilted her chin up, and let her hands rest comfortably on her knees. Meditating, which is what she was about to do, required a peaceful state of mind, and for her, that was absolutely no distractions or noise whatsoever.

Surpressing your chakra has its advantages, and it's disadvantages. When you surpress it, you can mask your chakra until it becomes undetectable, which is perfect for stealth missions. On the downside however, the user in unable to use ninjutsu or genjutsu.

Sakura let the natural noises around her melt into a study hum, and she focused on slowly down her breathing, which then slowed down her heart rate. Her chakra was spread throughout her body, and she found each individual chakra point.

Counting up from ten and back again, she let her chakra spread out, almost reaching the edges with her fingertips. Then, ever so slowly and carefully, she imagined the spread out chakra being condensed into barely noticeable size, like a flea.

"Hey, where'd she go!?"

"Who are you talking about, dobe? There's nobody else here."

"Shut up, teme! I could have sworn I felt Sakura's chakra!"

Her closed eyes snapped open at the voices of Naruto and Sasuke. Her mind was split with keeping her chakra condensed into a ball barely bigger than a flea, and listening in the the boys' conversation.

"Hn. You're imagining things."

"Boys, quite arguing. Remember, were supposed to be making Akira feel welcomed, not trying to scare her away with her bickering." Kakashi was there too, somewhere in front of her.

So, the whole team was here. No, the new team was here. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Sakura picked herself off the ground and quickly found a tree to hide herself in, using her newfound skill of walking up the trunk with no hands.

"Ah, sorry Akira-chan," Naruto said sheepishly, and Sakura could imagine him rubbing his neck his a dopey smile directed towards the new member of team seven.

"Hn," was all Sasuke offered, making the pinkette smirk. It made her feel better that he was indifferent about her, even though that was what he was like to herself. 

"C-Could we maybe battle against one another? It would help me get to know your strengths and weaknesses, and you can tell the same with mine," Akira suggested. Her voice was timid, but Sakura thought she could sense some sort of smugness underneath her exterior.

Kakashi spoke again, agreeing with her. "That's a great idea. How about you against Naruto, and Sasuke against me?"

And so the blind, pink haired girl sat there, hidden in her tree, and listening to the sounds of their mock battles.

Meanwhile..

"Wahhh!" Nico narrowly dodged a huge gust of wind caused my Kei's enormous wings.

After he had appeared back at Tōjinbō Cliffs, he immediately sought out Kei and begged for him to train him. After asking a few questions as to why he wanted to train, the larger eagle finally accepted, and they got straight to work, starting with working on his speed, as well as his resolve.

Gust after gust was sent at the poor eagle summon, and he was sent flying into a large boulder quite a few times. Pretty soon, he was aching all over, including in places he didn't even know existed.

A question suddenly came to Nico, causing him to sit up from where he had been dramatically slumped over a flat rock.

"Why did you allow for Sakura-chan to summon us? It's been forever since you've done that, considering the last person," he said, shifting from foot to foot in an awkward manner. Rarely anyone would dare to talk about them, especially in front of Kei.

But the Eagle King didn't react to the mention of them, but merely went on the answer the question.

"There are many of them attached to the girl, but the most prominent are the five red strings, and the one black string."

The smaller eagle cocked his head. "What do you mean, strings?"

Kei looked at his godson with a critical eye. "By strings, I mean the fates of people around her. The red strings represent the people she will save, and the black string, that represents the poor person she cannot save, no matter how hard she tries," he explained, his voice solemn at the last part.

Nico blinked, his beak slightly opened. He never knew that the pinkette was that important and had a great future in front of her.

But Kei shook his massive head and leaned down to look the smaller eagle in the eyes.

"I want you to know this; something important that an eagle summon should be aware of," he started, making sure Nico was paying close attention. "All humans have these strings attached to them. The girl, her friends, her family, strangers; everyone. It isn't something special. The world is a great circle, and people are always affecting one another," he said.

Nico took a moment to think. "Like a chain reaction of sorts?"

"Exactly. For example: There was once a boy, a prodigy in the arts of the shinobi, in fact. He was eventually put on a team with two other people, a girl he may have developed a slight crush on, and boy whom he greatly disliked. There was also his sensei, a young man with an unknown tragic future ahead of him. And they trained, and bonded in their unique ways despite their differences. On a certain mission, both the girl and the boy ended up sacrificing their lives for the prodigy child, and each gave them something. For the girl, it was the nightmares of killing her. And for the boy, it was something that was held sacred in his clan. Then in the future, he even lost his sensei in an attack. So his old team was gone, but they had all given their lives for him to keep living, in one way or another. And that same boy went on teach his own genin team, and hopefully teach them what being a shinobi really meant."

But what Kei didn't add was that he wasn't doing such a good job of it after all, considering the female genin he's been neglecting.

"And the reason I chose her was because she had something that rarely anyone has. Do you know what that is?" the Eagle King asked.

"Uh, no?"

"Nothing," Kei said in a finalized tone.

"What do you mean, nothing?"

"That's the answer. Sakura Haruno had nothing. No future, nobody to believe in her, no want to gain anything, nothing. If I hadn't given her a chance, then the strings that were attached to her would have completed faded, like they were already starting to fade when she came here. But I did, and I saw what was in store for her. That little seedling of hope, that would one day grow into a great forest."

Kei's speech brought up an intense feeling of affection and warmth towards Nico's little pink haired summoner. The little eagle had been aware that Sakura had been feeling down, to say the least, but he didn't know to that extent.

Kei spoke one last time, before raising his wings menacingly into the air, "As an eagle, your greatest weapon is your eyes. You can see things ordinary beings cannot. Use this to your advantage. Now, fight!"

Back in the shinobi world, Sakura had left her spot in the tree in favor of getting far away from her old team. It was starting to make her depressed, and thought it would be best to leave.

And that was a good thing, because guess who she found only a few minutes later while heading towards the library.

Her target.

Gekkou Hayate was sitting at one of the tables outside the building, presumably reading. Now, she was interested in what exactly he was reading. It might give her some insight of his hobbies, or even his condition. Which meant, she had to find someway to get over there without him getting suspicious and shunshining away.

She would keep her chakra suppresed just incase he recognized it (he probably would, because why else would he leave as soon as she was in the vicinity?), and act like a normal civilian, who just happened to be blind. Now that she thought about it, she could use her disability to her advantage.

The pinkette smirked. "He won't know what hit him," she whispered to herself.

Sakura found a decent sized stick from the ground to use as a cane and sell the picture of her being an injured civilian. She also left her kunai pack, her bag full of her clothes and hitai-ate under a bush, and let down her damp hair to fall in waves to her shoulders. It didn't really change much about her appearance, but it helped her feel different and mold into the character she's going to play.

"Agh!" she purposely squeaked out when she walked by the table that Gekkou was sitting at, running her body onto the bench. And then, not so purposefully, she ended up tripping over something and falling on her knee, managing to cut it open.

"Ow, damnit!" she swore under her breath, and plopped down on her butt, frowning. It was hard to keep her chakra under control while in pain. But now that she thought about it, pain shouldn't bother her, not if she wanted to be a kunoichi. So she sucked it up and stood back up, completely ignoring her knee for now.

"You should get that cleaned out," a voice said, and coughing quickly followed. Her head snapped up in surprise, seeing as she almost momentarily forgot about her target, who was sitting only a few feet away from her.

"O-Oh. Uh, yea," the pinkette pathetically stammered out.

Now what?

"I can heal it-" he coughed, "-for you, if you want," Gekkou offered. Without waiting for an answer, he gently took her hand and sat her down beside him. Then he grabbed her leg and splayed it across his lap, before hovering his hand above the gnash. Sakura felt a faint tingling, and as the skin knit itself together, it became itchy. That meant it was being healed.

"Done," the sick jōnin finally said, and let go of Sakura, who ran her finger over the newly healed skin. She smiled, and looked up in the direction of Gekkou.

"Thank you," she whispered, and then suddenly remembering that she was playing the disabled civilian, quickly asked, "How did you do that!? It- It just disappeared! It feels fine now!"

There was then a short silence, which made the pinkette start to panic because she could practically feel the suspiciousness coming off of him, unless that was just her overactive imagination. Though, might have gone a bit overboard with the 'surprise.'

"I've dabbled a bit in medical ninjutsu," he finally said, making Sakira calm down. "By the way, do I know you? You seem familiar.." he continued, an odd note in the jōnin's voice.

Her mind blanked.

Oh shit.

________

Sakura blinked at the summon in front of her.

"You're not Nico," she stated, confused. The chakra signature in front of her was slightly smaller, and more compact, instead of Nico's usual large and free ranging chakra.

Yesterday, the pinkette had talked to Gekkou and managed to find out a little about him, such as the fact that he as interested in kenjutsu, judging by the book he was reading. And even though she learned very little, she was excited to tell her partner, but it looked like that wouldn't happen.

There was a scoff. "Yea, and you're blind. Way to be obvious," a snobbish voice said, making an irk mark appear on the pinkette's forehead. The unfamiliar she-eagle continued, "Don't expect that birdbrain for a long time. Kei has him doing an exercise that will probably take all day and night for him to continue."

Sakura cocked her head, remembering how Nico had said he wanted Kei to train him yesterday. That was also why she waited so long to summon him, for just in case he we still training. "What's he doing?"

"Kei hid a ball behind a rock and Nico is supposed to find it without moving a spot on top of the Outlook Rock. Doubt that'll ever happen," the she-eagle explained.

"Well, how's he supposed to find it if it's behind something and he can't move?" the pinkette asked, confused.

"Are all humans this stupid? Oh, quit making that face. It's obvious that he'll be able to find it by using its shadow. But of course, it'll take him awhile to figure that out."

"Don't talk about him like that," Sakura finally snapped, irritated that somebody, a fellow eagle summon no less, had the audacity to speak about her friend like that. He might not be the brightest in some situations, but he had his special strengths to make up for that. In a way, he kind of reminded her of-

Guilt suddenly filled her, because she was that way with Naruto. Always underestimating him and thinking he was never good enough. She decided to make it a point to not do that in the future.

Brushing aside her guilt and new resolve, she focused her attention back "So, who are you?"

"I'm Keiki, but that's not important. I'm going to take my leave now, since their is no way I'd be caught dead helping an ignorant human like you," the now named Keiki sneered, and the pinkette noticed a tugging on her chakra. Quick as lightening, she (metaphorically) grabbed hold of that chakra like a leash, and prevented the she-eagle from leaving back to Tōjinbō Cliffs.

There was a loud screech, and then cursing. "Why the hell are you keeping me here!?"

Sakura crossed her arms and stared in her direction. "I don't like the way you were talking about a Nico, so I'm going to keep you here with me since you hate me that much. The only reason you're able to be here, is because you are tied to my chakra. I can make you stay for as long as I have chakra," she snapped.

It wasn't like she actually wanted to spend time with the she-eagle summon, but she might need some help today with a few things.

"Let's go see Hokage-sama!" Sakura suddenly announced without waiting for Keiki's reply, and turned on her heel to head back down the alley she had walked in to summon Nico.

The she-eagle huffed, starting after the pinkette crossly, and landed on her arm when she held it out. "Snot-faced human," she muttered, making sure her summoner heard it.

In return, the pinkette stuck her tongue out at Keiki. "Bratty she-eagle," she shot back.

"Obnoxious-haired girl."

"Greasy-feathered bird."

"Hey! My feathers are not greasy! If anyone's hair is greasy, then it's yours!"

Sakura chose to ignored her now. "Oh look, we're here."

And sure enough, they made it to the Hokage's door. After a quick knock, the door swung open, bringing a cold gust of air that made the two shiver.

"Hello, young Sakura," the very man that the pinkette wanted to see greeted her.

She lifted her lips into a smile. "Hello, Hokage-sama. How are you?"

"I'm doing well, thank you for asking. How about you?"

"I'm doing great as well, considering. But.." she drew the last word out, hinting that she wanted something.

"What is it you need?" he asked, his voice curious as to what the blind girl might want. It could be anything for all he knew.

"I want to travel to Otogakure, The Village Hidden in the Sound."

There. It was out there. She said what she wanted.

Sarutobi was quite taken back by her words. It was a few moments before he could actually manage speak again. "Ca- Can I ask why you made this request?"

"I've done my research, Hokage-sama, and I understand what I'm asking. Otogakure is a recently established village located in the Land of Rice Patties. Not much is known about the village because it's so new, but the genin of the village specialize is using the power of sound to their advantage, which I believe would help me greatly if I were to learn from them."

"..Okay, so you've done your research and given the facts. But your week is not yet over," Sarutobi pointed out.

It was time for Sakura to take a risk now.

"I know. Which means I must ask you to either extend my week or pass your judgement now. Already in this short timespan I have been so graciously allowed," Sakura tried to keep her voice even on that word. She still was struggling with her sight impediment and that whole incident, "I have gathered much information on how to use my disability to my advantage and was also able to train myself to do things a normal genin would learn, such as walking on water and up tree using only my chakra."

"I see you've also learned the power of a silver tongue. That is also quite impressive."

He said 'also', which meant he approved of the other things too. It was a start.

"Before I make a final decision, there are some things you must know. Of course, no normal genin would know this, but you already dubbed yourself as Konoha's experiment, is that right?"

Sakura wouldn't lie; there was a small part of her that feared at what her kage was getting at. But she wouldn't let his words scare her. "That is correct."

"Then I see no reason to keep this from you, especially if you are to go to Otogakure."

Especially if you were to go to Otogakure. Did that mean he would allow her to continue being a genin? She found out her answer when her kage nodded his head, somehow know her unasked question. Relief washed over her. She could now wear her hitai-ate proudly on her head with the knowledge that the Hokage accepted her.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," she breathed out, and then she bowed low to the ground to show her gratitude.

"I wouldn't be thanking me just yet, child," the elderly Hokage said in a dry voice, and making the pinkette tense as she straightened herself back up. "After all, I'm turning this into an A-ranked mission you just might not come back from."

His words hung in the air between them, crackling with the promise of death and animosity. 

But the determination in Sakira's heart was hard and true. Twisting her hand right to lay directly over her heart, she squared her shoulders and positioned her head straight in front of her, tilting her chin up.

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

"Good. Now, onto these suspicions that the elder council and I have had about Otogakure..*"

"Wow, that old man can talk," Keiki commented whenever Sakura was done and walking outside. She was on her way home to prepare for her first real mission. It was also going to be different because her team would no longer be with her.

"Well, what he had to say was important," the pinkette pointed out, absentmindedly petting the she-eagles feathers with her free hand. It was a habit she picked up with Nico.

"Get your sticky hands off me, rat."

"Shut up."

Just a few minutes prior, the Third Hokage had given her her mission details, a goal, and a thin file that contained all that was known for a fact about Otogakure.

In a few days, Sakura was to set out for the village, and would stay there for two weeks. She would be there under the guise of a disabled genin who was there to help her and would be a show of peace between Konoha and Otogakure. In reality, she would be scouting around and confirming or disapproving a few suspicions that the Hokage and council had.

All in all, there was a chance that she would be found out and killed. Though, hopefully that wouldn't happen because it would be bad for the Sound Village if something were to happen to a visiting genin from a different village, especially one as powerful as Konoha. It would place even more suspicion on them that they really didn't want or need.

"And I wonder who I'm going to be going with," Sakura pondered aloud.The kage had also said that there was going to be another person accompanying her, but he wouldn't tell her who.

Just as Sakura was about to say something, Keiki distracted her by saying, "Whoa, whose that man with the crazy pink hair?"

Crazy pink hair?

There was only one man in Konoha who had hair similar to her own.

"Dad!?"

"Ah, Sakura! There's my little girl.

I've been looking everywhere for you," Kizashi announced in a cheerful voice, and then proceeded to lunge at the pinkette and capture her in a tight hug, effectively trapping the eagle summon as well who was using all of her self control to not gouge out his eyes.

"When did you get back?" Sakura asked after they pulled away from each other, and Keiki quickly escaped flew away to a nearby tree. No way was she risking getting caught in the middle of that disgusting display of affection again.

"Just now actually. I got here as soon as I could, which wasn't actually that soon because business held me up," he replied in an apologetic voice. But Sakura wasn't upset. She was just happy to se- well no, not see, but hear and touch her beloved dad.

"That's fine. Oh, and Keiki-san-" the pinkette focused her attention back on the eagle who was resting in the tree. "-you're free to go."

The she-eagle disappeared even before she finished speaking, much to Sakura's amusement, and slight disappointment. The foul-tempered eagle wasn't actually that bad of company.

"Oh, I wasn't aware that you had a summon," Kizashi said, sounding surprised. The pinkette furrowed her eyebrows together.

"I didn't know you knew what a summon was," she said, causing her otou-san to laugh.

"Of course I do. In fact, I even went to the Academy as a child," he said, and it was Sakura's turn to be surprised.

"You went to the Academy!?"

"Yep," he said, popping the p. "I aced the written part of the test with the best results in the whole class, but failed the other one. I was always horrible at jutsus. After that, my own dad pulled me out and wouldn't let me continue another year. Instead, I was introduced to the business of trade," he explained as they walked side by side with Sakura's hand holding onto his sleeve. She didn't feel like using the energy to make sure she didn't run into anything.

"Wow, I never knew that! What about mom? Was she in the Academy?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Kizashi just laughed, an amusement-filled sound that reverberated from his deep in his chest.

"Oh, Kami, she definitely wasn't."

Sakura laughed as well, and was glad that she could have a normal conversation with him. She was also happy that he wasn't acting as if her blindness was a disease that needed to be kept away from.

"We're home, Mebuku-chan!" Kisashi called out when the two entered their house.

Shuffling came from the kitchen and the orange haired woman appeared a few moments later, a huge grin on her face.

"Kizashi-kun, Sakura," she greeted the two, giving the latter a quick hug around the shoulders, and pulled in the former to give a quick kiss on the mouth.

The pinkette made a bleh face at the wet sound and started to venture off into another part of the house while her parents had their own little reunion. But before she made it very far, a hand pulled her back and she was placed beside her dad.

"Don't you think you're getting away that easily. We haven't had proper family time in awhile," Mebuki tutted, and lead her to the family couch by the hand, making Sakura feel hot in the face. She pulled her hand back and held it at her chest, before walking in front of her okaa-san and walking herself to sit down on the soft cushioning of said couch.

"I don't need you to lead me," she said in a quite voice, folding her hands neatly in her lap after adjusting the cloth around her head.

Kizashi ignored the tense atmosphere between his wife and daughter. He instead chose to sit beside Sakura, which left Mebuki to sit across from them on the wooden rocking chair.

The pinkette took this chance to tell her parents about her mission. "The Hokage said I could still become a genin, and assigned me a mission for I'm a couple of days," she said, choosing to leave out the bit about it being A-ranked and how she was Konoha's Experiment, meaning it was possible she could die. After all, she didn't want them to worry.

Kizashi opened his mouth to congratulate her, but before he could, Mebuki spoke first.

"What is that man thinking!?"

Ouch. Words hurt.

But her okaa-san wasn't done. "Sending you off on a mission and allowing you to continue when it's obvious that you can't entirely take care of yourself yet. Why, I'll go to him myself and make him take back his words, Hokage be damned," she said, going off into a rant. "Sending a blind genin child off on a mission. That's preposterous! You'll have to be led every step of the way, and that would make you a liability!"

As she continued to speak, Sakura sank deeper and deeper into the couch, wishing that she could take back her words and disappear into the ground forever.

"And you have no team. Even though Hokage-sama said you could continue being a genin, you've already been replaced, and-"

"Enough."

Kizashi's booming voice was enough to make Mebuki pause in her talking, and even Sakura jumped. She had never heard her dad that angry before. Honestly, it was a little scary, especially since she didn't know who it was directed towards. But that was made clear a few moments later.

"Mebuki, I think it would be best if you stopped talking for a bit and go make us some lunch, alright?" he asked, but the females knew that it wasn't a question. As soon as the said woman vanished into the kitchen, Sakura took this chance to jump off the couch and run up the stairs, escaping into her room.

Sakura ripped off the cloth that covered her eyes and threw it to an unknown part of her room, before rubbing them as hard as possible. But as hard as she tried, her sight never returned. The inky blackness that surrounded her stayed, and it would be like that forever.

They thought she was weak. They thought she was useless. They thought she couldn't do it. That it was physically and mentally impossible for her. The reality of what was wrong with her was hitting her now.

She was blind.

She would never, ever see again. And it would affect her future as a kunoichi, as a genin, as a person.

A sob escaped her lips, and she eventually collapsed beside her bed, hiding her blotchy face in her knees. Screw trying to turn her tears into something useful. She tried and tried and tried to be positive about things. About being blind. But she was left with frustration and panic. She couldn't do a thing that she was able to do before. How was she supposed to work with this when even her own mother didn't believe in her?

Kizashi looked at his only daughter with sad eyes after he entered her room.

He crouched down, and gently lifted Sakura's face from her knees, wiping away the tears below her unseeing eyes with the pads of his thumbs.

"Don't listen to yourmother. She is small minded, and only understands what her brain can comprehend," he whispered, his voice soft. The still crying girl didn't acknowledge him, so he continued. "But us two, we are able to understand and see things that nobody else can. Its what separates us from them. It is for this reason that I'm always the one in charge of our little business trips."

He sighed when Sakura still made no move, and pulled her into his arms, where she immediately buried her face into his chest.

"Why w-won't any-o-one understand th-that I need t-to do this, and want to d-do this?" she cried out, her voice coming out in slight stutters.

"Because they don't believe in the impossible."

There was a beat, before her blind eyes widened and she sat up. Her otou-san said almost the same exact words as Kei had. It made her wonder if they somehow knew each other.

"And you do?" she asked, hardly daring to believe that he actually believed in her.

Kizashi smiled at the barely noticeable hint of hope in her voice. "Like I said, we are different from them. And besides, who else is going to help you prove them all wrong, that you can do this?"

That made her smile, and she wiped at her wet cheeks. "I love you, otou-san."

"And I love you, my impossible little blossom."

That night, Kizashi convinced Mebuki to apologize to Sakura, though the pinkette knew it wasn't heartfelt. She was only doing it to make her forgive her. But it was no matter. She was now prepared for people that wouldn't believe in her.

Because, she would make them believe in her, no matter what it took.

Meanwhile, at Tōjinbō Cliffs..

"Where the frickity frack is that ugly red ball!? Imma poop on whoever decided to hide it!"

From behind the large cliff that he was-no, not hiding, waiting, Kei made a mental to note to teach his godson better insults and threats.. And maybe to avoid flying under him for awhile.


	5. into the silver dawn

The sun was warm on her skin as Sakura breathed in the fresh air from atop of the balcony that extended from her bedroom. It was early in the morning, the very day that she was to leave on her A-ranked mission for Otogakure. The night before she had prepared her traveling bag and said her goodbyes to her parents who were leaving yet again for another business trip.

The pinkette pulled on a forest green tank-top, black pants that were bandaged around the ankles, and a navy blue traveling cloak. She then pulled up the top half of her hair into a bun, tied her cloth around her eyes, and put her hitai-ate on top of her head like a headband. She also pulled on her trusty leather gauntlets. After slipping on her ELEPHANT and swinging her bag behind her back, she was finally ready to go.

Not too long after, she made it to the gate, where she sensed a few familiar chakra signatures. They must be about to head out on a mission as well.

"Hey, Naruto," she greeted in a casual voice as she pulled up along side the hyperactive blind without being noticed by him or even his other team members.

There was a loud screech, followed by Sakura ducking to avoid getting hit by a fist that she heard cutting through the air towards her direction. (A large part of her was annoyed that he would have actually hit someone if she had been another person, but a small amount of pride bubbled up in her chest nonetheless. She was able to sense more things now.)

"Ahh! I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shrieked out in alarm when he realized he had almost punched his dearly beloved crush. But instead of her getting mad like he thought she would, she merely tilted her head and smiled.

"It's alright. Maybe it'll help you remember to always keep your guard up. I could have been a dangerous nin for all you know," the pinkette pointed out, making Naruto's face pale in realization.

And then he nodded, a wide grin coming onto his face. "Wow, that's great advice! Thank you, Sakura-chan! And- Oh, is that you're hitai-ate!? So the old man is finally allowing you to become a kunoichi!?" he yelled, excitement clear in his voice.

When Sakura nodded, he let out a whoop of joy and lunged at her, managing to wrap her up in a hug.

"Does this mean you can return to our team?"

Before the pinkette could respond, another voice intervened.

"How'd you manage to trick Hokage-sama into letting you wear your hitai-ate?" Akira asked, her voice sounding the epitome of innocence, though the question was anything but. Sakura thought she could hear a barely noticeable note of fear, and she suddenly felt a little bad for her.

Technically, Keiki would not have been able to become a kunoichi with Sakura on the team. Who knows how long she had been waiting, or what this meant to her. Maybe her reason for becoming a kunoichi was even nobler than her own.

So a soft smile reached the pinkette's lips and she stepped in front of the other girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. Maybe she could try being nice to the girl who was her replacement? "Don't worry. I won't be coming back to the team." She paused, hearing a gasp that came from Naruto, before continuing, "And as for how I'm still able to become a kunoichi, you could say that I'm a special case of sorts for the Hokage."

She opted out of saying that she was Konoha's Experiment, because to outsiders who didn't know what was going on, it probably sounded more than a little inhumane. But them, maybe it actually was that way, considering the risky mission she was about to go on.

When Akira didn't respond, Sakura removed her hand and stepped a couple of steps to look in the direction of the other person that helped made up team seven.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun. How have you been?"

"Hn," was all she got, and quickly translated it into, 'Everything's annoying as always, including you.' It was safe to say that she had somehow managed to learn the special Uchiha Language in her brief time on the team.

"Who's this little pink-haired chit? Another brat to annoy me?" an unfamiliar voice said, creating a tick mark on her forehead. That must have been their customer, and she could smell the alcohol on him from all the way over there.

Instead of letting him annoy her though and talk shit about everyone, she smoothed over her features and let her mouth take over for her.

"Oh, good sir," she began, catching everyone's attention, including Kakashi's who just arrived and was squatting on a nearby tree branch. "Is that anyway to treat the people who will be protecting you from harm? But, that's no matter. I'm sure you have a good enough head on your shoulders to realize what qualified people are here to keep you safe. After all, why else would you hire Konoha shinobi? And oh, is that Bourbon County Stout that I smell?"

During her little lecture, the drunken mans face had changed several times. First, it was an annoyance that this little brat had the term to talk to him, then it was slight fear because he needed these ninja's to accompany him, and lastly it was appreciation that she had been able to to namethe drink he was gulping down. Maybe she wasn't as bad a kid as he thought.

"Yes, actually. I had to travel way up north to get this stuff. How did you know?"

"My parents are traders, and I remember this same smell as an alcoholic drink that they wer-"

"Maa, Haruno-san! We don't have all day," a familiar voiced reached said pinkette's ears, and she turned around in surprise.

"You!" she exclaimed, pointing a finger in the direction of the one and only Gekkou Hayate. The jōnin started chuckling, but it was interrupted by a bought of nasty coughing.

"Yes, me. Did you really-" he coughed again, "-think Hokage-sama would send a complete stranger with you?" he asked, but not unkindly.

Naruto suddenly nudged her side with his elbow, catching Sakura's attention. "Who's this dude? He looks almost dead," he whispered into her ear, making the pinkette gently smack him across the head. She had to remember to not get angry because he had no filter for his mouth and just spouted out whatever came to mind. It wasn't something he could control.

"Don't be rude," she scolded him, making him apologize sheepishly. "And for your information, his name is Gekkou Hayate. He is a tokubestu jōnin with interest in kenjutsu and has this cough that doesn't seem to go away." She last the part in a whisper so as to not offend him. She didn't know if the cough was sensitive.

Gekkou smiled at the pink haired girl. "So I see your little stunt proved to be useful, eh, Haruno-san? But anyways, we best be leaving. This mission won't complete itself, and it's thanks to you that it's even possible for us to do this, no matter the stakes," he said casually, making a small blush to reach Salura's cheeks in embarrassment. She never knew what to do with compliments, or anything that resembled them.

"Huh?" Naruto said, confused.

But Sakura didn't bother to fill him in. Instead, she gave him a quick pat on the head, turned towards Keiki and Sasuke with a bow, and then called up to the trees, "Cya later, Kakashi-san!" And with that, she skipped over to where the other jōnin was waiting and the two exited the gates with a small wave to the guards that were on duty.

Kakashi blinked in suprise before dropping down beside his students.

"Hey, you're late again!" Naruto whirled around and yelled in accusation, making the silver haired jōnin give him a closed eyed smile.

"Yea, sorry about that. I got lost of the path of life yet again," he lied, making the blond glare at him. As usual, he had actually been visiting the K.I.A stone, and then picked up the newest addition of the Icha Icha Paradise series.

"That's bull!" he exclaimed, making Sasuke hit his head, definitely not being as gentle as Sakura was.

"You're being too loud, dobe," the Uchiha stated in a bland voice. Keiki covered her mouth to hide a snort, while Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Hey, how is Sakura-chan able to tell who is who and walk around without running into anything? And she was even able to dodge my punch," Naruto suddenly said, catching everyone off guard since he didn't even bat an eyelash in response to Sasuke's rude nickname.

Kakashi cocked his head to the side in thought. "Well," he started, "Everyone has a chakra signature, including the smallest of insects. And you can sense them without having to look at them, which Sakura must use be using to her advantage. But with how she's able to dodge things and run into things that are inanimate, I'm not entirely sure. Maybe we could ask her when we get back," he suggested, and then ushered his genin in front of him so they would start walking.

"Yosh! We will totally do that, dattebayo! But uh, what's this chatra stuff again?"

Back in the forest with Sakura and Gekkou, they were having their own little conversation.

"I- um, I'm sorry for spying on you and following you around for like a full day," the pinkette started awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Gekkou only laughed, and patted her head. "But you learned some things, didn't you? The first time I sensed your chakra, I didn't think anything of it. The second time, I got a little suspicious and let you follow me around for a bit before leaving. And then the third time you came around, I disappeared on the spot and watched you from afar," he explained, somehow strong enough to hold in his coughing fit until after he finished.

Sakura gaped at him. "You were watching me?" she asked, incredulous.

"I was. And I must say, you have excellent chakra control, so much-" some coughing, "-that even a jōnin couldn't sense you after you figured out how to maske your signature. And on top of that, you-" more coughing, "-even managed to find yourself a worthwhile summon. Not just any genin could do that, and a blind one at that."

His blunt words were strangely refreshing, in the pinkette's opinion. Other people would usually just ignore the fact that she was blind, like her otou-san, or just skirt around it, like everyone else.

Her cheeks stained red yet again. "A-Ah, thanks.."

He patted her head yet again.

"It's also why I helped vouched for you and reported your accomplishments to Hokage-sama."

Sakura stopped in her tracks, almost tripping over an uprooted root. She turned her body towards the jōnin. He's surprised her yet again, and possibly helped her more than he would ever know.

"Y-You have?"

Unknown to Sakura, Gekkou had an uncharacteristicly soft smile on his face. "It's impressive what you've done, considering your disability. And people don't believe in you, do they? But even through all of that, you still try."

They began walking again, with Sakura adjusting her grip on the bag. She didn't speak for a few moments after that, his words running through her mind.

"It's only because I had a few special people helping me. Without them, I probably would have just given up the second Hokage-sama told me to hand in my hitai-ate, and that I would never be able to become a kunoichi," she finally admitted, feeling ashamed of how she was acting then.

The air felt good on her skin, mingled with the suns gentle heat. Her head was clearer in that moment than it ever was, even with Gekkou's repetitive coughing fits. She thought about how things would have been a lot different if she hadn't found Nico in the forest with his sprained wing.

"You can't change the past. But you can learn from it, and grow. Knowing what you know now, would you still be so quick to give up?"

She responded without a second thought. "Of course not."

He chuckled. "See? You've already grown so mu-" he suddenly paused, slightly tilting his head up to sniff the air. From beside him, Sakura stiffened but chose to keep her mouth shut. She had a feeling that Gekkou found something that probably wasn't supposed to be there, and they had barely walked an hour. That wasn't a good thing.

"Haruno-san, how much experience have you had with fighting?" the jōnin said in a voice so quite that the pinkette barely caught his words.

She gulped. "None." She remembered the last time she tried to fight. It didn't end well.

"Well then, I believe you'll have your first chance today. It seems we have company," he said in a casual voice, as if they were talking about the weather instead of a possible battle. But of course, he must be used to this thing, considering his jōnin status.

The pinkette took a shaky deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She didn't think she was exactly battle ready, especially with her blindness. She wasn't trying to make up excuses, but she couldn't fight even before she lost the use of her eyes.

But..

She had to try. If not for herself, then to prove the ones that didn't believe in her wrong.

"Should I summon Nico?" she asked the jōnin, making sure to keep her voice in a low whisper that only he could hear.

"Wait until the battle actually starts. If you were to summon him now, then they would know that we know that they are watching."

"H-Hai."

It was a smart idea. She admired his way of thinking, and hoped that she would be able to be like that one day. Maybe she could even get him to train her? It seemed like his senses were even greater than hers, and he was able to use all of them so they weren't even being heightened.

A twig suddenly snapped.

She finally heard them. There was someone just above her to her left. And.. there, to her right was a person who was poorly disguising their chakra. She wondered what kind of nin they were, and what they wanted, although, she had a fairly good idea about the latter question.

"If they are suspicious of you, and we are right about them, then they will try to take you out."

Those were the Hokage's words. His warning. And then directly after that he had given her the option of backing out, which she obviously didn't take.

"Ahhh!" The sound of metal against metal was heard directly after the battle cry.

"Now, Sakura!" Gekkou yelled, and the pinkette quickly preformed the proper hand seals. Within moments, Nico was letting out a wicked screech and started attacking, needing no direction or command needed. With the help of Kei's training, his speed, strength, and senses had become even stronger than before.

Now, it Sakura's turn to do something that she had spent the last couple of days practicing. To be able to properly fight, she needed to know where everything was located around her.

Channeling her chakra to her throat, the transmitter, and to her ears, the receiver, she quickly yelled out, producing a sound wave that was so high in frequency that no human could hear. This was done by modifying her own vocal cords using chakra. She felt the vibrations of the sound wave around her, and whenever they hit something in its path, they bounced back to her, allowing her to 'see' the shapes around her, using her enchanced ears.

The first few times she experimented using this, her ears and nose bled, while her throat became extremely sore. She had accidentally made the frequency to low, and the sound was so horrible that several of the Inuzuka's hounds came running. The pinkette had quickly masked her chakra and ran away, not wanting to be subjected to questioning or possible scolding. From then on, she practiced far outside of the village and kept a first aid kit on her at all times.

There was a buzzing in the air.

Sakura dodged the shuriken that came flying past her head.

There were five nin around her and Gekkou in total. To her left, the jōnin was fighting two of them using some type of sword, telling her that kenjutsu wasn't just some interest for him. Another nin was just above her in a tree, continuously throwing kunai and shuriken. Nico was fighting with one to her left, and there was another one to her right that was slowly advancing towards her.

Mustering up all her courage, and not wasting a second more, Sakura lunged towards the nin on the right.

She was tossed to the side like a mere rag doll.

It was infuriating and slightly painful, seeing as her spine had hit a tree trunk, and her clothes weren't thick enough to protect her.

But she picked herself back up again and hurled towards the nin yet again, this time holding out a kunai. She quickly summoned a clone of herself, disguised her chakra, and slipped away to sneak up on the nin in the tree while her other self was distracting the other one.

Her clone dodged an incoming punch, and swung her legs out to trip the nin. Sakura could hear a light gasp, meaning they stumbled. The clone used this opportunity to channel chakra to their hands, and slammed their fists into their chest, causing him to fall over.

But their small victory didn't last long.

The nin picked theirselves back up again, drew a sword they were carrying on her back, and cleaning cut her in half, making her vanish with a poof. Even though it was just a clone, it sent a bust of fear in her that she was defeated so easily.

Meanwhile, her real self was sneaking up behind the nin in the tree. In order to not be caught, she lowered her breathing and stepped lightly on the ground. Also, she had made sure to use unscented shampoo and soap before she left home, because some people would be able to smell it.

There was a loud scream, and the sound of a body hitting the ground, meaning Nico had managed taken out his nin.

'Yep. He's out like Tsunade-sama at a bar.'

Good. That left four more nin.

Silently creepy up a tree, the pinkette got a sudden idea that spawned from Nico and the mention of the slug sannin. If medical ninjutsu was for healing the body, maybe she could reverse it somehow to harm the body.

But that very potent, useful-dangerous thought had caused her attention to slip, and a hand suddenly wrapped around her neck. She was pulled backward and was most likely being hung over the ground, which was a good fifteen feet down there.

"Stop!" the man holding her yelled, causing everyone to pause and look at the two. Fear was etched across Nico's face, while the other nin had looks of triumph. Gekkou's eyes were narrowed.

"If you don't surrender yourselves, I will break her neck."

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, the pinkette repeated in her head, trying to claw at the hands that were holding her. It was no use though, he wouldn't budge. She really didn't want her neck broken.

"Release her!" Gekkou yelled, his voice almost a snarl.

While they were speaking, Sakura had slumped in his hands, giving the impression of giving up. But that wasn't the case. No, she wasn't going to do that again.

Her fingers twitched as she slowly ran chakra through them. It was hard to concentrate when you were slowly loosing air and being strangled to death.

"Hey, a-asshole," she choked out, gaining his attention. At the rude name, he sneered and tightened his hold on her, making her choke again.

The nasty, gurgled sound make the jōnin and eagle summon tense.

"Don't hurt her, and you can have me," Gekou said slowly, easing his hands up in submission.

But Sakura wouldn't have that. She was getting desperate now. And desperate people often preformed desperate acts that they might regret later.

Sakura twisted herself around to face in the direction of the nin that was holding her. Her mind was becoming foggy, and she could barely breath.

"You're a w-worthless bastard that doesn't deserve a h-heart."

And then she proceeded to plunge her outstretched hand into his chest, pulling out his beating heart. Warm liquid spattered onto her face, and she finally felt herself falling towards the ground. Her throat was free, but the after effects of being strangled were getting to her.

Everything was distorting itself around her, and she had the vague recollection of something catching her. The strange thing was, it didn't smell like Gekkou, or feel like the talons of Nico. It was definitely someone she didn't know, and she could only hope that it wasn't the nins.

Before she completely faded away into unconsciousness, one last thought raced through her mind.

I just killed a man.

______

Sakura woke up with a strangled gasp, and immediately sat up, with her head spinning, and her stomach feeling nauseous. Her throat felt as if it was on fire.

"Oh, you're finally awake," a familiar voice stated, followed by a bout of coughing that told her that Gekkou was somewhere to her left.

The pinkette cast her senses around, and found that Nico was gone, most likely due to her passing out, and she was in an unfamiliar place. Her head was resting on something soft, and she knew she was laying on grass.

"What happened?" she managed to ask in a hoarse voice, smacking her parched lips together.

From beside her, the jōnin shifted almost awkwardly. "After you killed the nin that was holding you, Nico dissapeared, and I was able to knock out the other ones, since you provided a ..distraction.

What distraction..?

And then she remembered. Thrusting her hand into the mans chest, pulling out his heart. Warm blood splattering onto her skin. The smell of something heavy and rich and disgusting. She was marked by death.

Bile rose to her throat, and she quickly turned to side and heaved into the grass. Gekkou oh-so-helpfully pulled her hair back, and gave her a handkerchief to wipe her mouth off when she was finished emptying the contents of her stomach. Maybe eating that big breakfast earlier that day wasn't such a good idea.

"I killed someone," she whimpered out when she finished cleaning off her mouth, tears pricking out of the corner of her useless eyes. "I ripped his heart out. And now he's dead.. He could of have a family; a wife, maybe even children. And I kill-"

"He would have killed you if you hadn't," the jōnin interrupted, ruffling her dirty hair with his hand. "I'll admit, I didn't expect your first killing to be that- erm, gruesome.. but it was necessary."

Not trusting herself to speak, the pinkette just nodded and covered her face with her hands. Then she remembered the white cloth that was tied around her face, and grimaced. It was probably covered in blood, and she only had one. Well, at least she would fulfill her promise to that elderly shop keeper. She also noticed a bandage around her neck, and was sure that there was nasty bruises there. She could only hope that they would heal before she home, because she didn't want people thinking she was still incapable of being useful.

And then she remembered what had happened right before she passed out.

"Who was it that caught me?"

Gekkou sighed, not making her feel any better or more assured. "I don't know. All I was was a black and red cloak, before they disappeared, taking the bodies of the nin with them. I doubt they were Hunter Nin, because I didn't see a mask," he mused aloud.

The pinkette was slightly disappointed that she wasn't able to meet her savior, but she just shrugged it off. More pressing matter were on her mind, besides her killing of that shinobi. She pushed that certain matter to the side, which probably wasn't the healthy thing to do. But she figured she was on a mission, and that could wait until later to figure out.

"Those nin," she started, "We're they from Otogakure?"

It made sense. If the rumors were actually true, then of course they wouldn't want anyone seeing their village if at all possible. And to take them out before they even made it to the Sound Village would be their best bet of getting rid of them without anyone getting suspicious.

"I- I'm honestly not sure. They wore no hitai-ate, and their faces were covered by blue masks while they wore pitch black cloaks with no emblem or anything that showed their allegiance," the jōnin replied, making Sakura nod.

So they were still in the dark and had learned nothing so far. But that was fine. After all, they still had two weeks, and even if they didn't find anything, the pinkette would be able to learn new skills to help her.

After taking a short break, the two were on the move again. Gekkou asked her several times if she needed to stop for a bit, or if she needed some counciling, but the pinkette refused. She just wasn't ready to deal with it yet.

It would take approximately three days to get to Otogakure, but they hoped to make it in two by running as much as they could. Gekkou would be able to easily do it, but Sakura didn't exactly have the best stamina. She was really cursing not taking her training hard enough in the past.

That night, the two found a nice sized clearing to set up camp, that was located beside a steady steam. Sakura used the water to try to clean off her cloth, but Gekkou said it only made it worse. She would have to remember to get a black cloth instead of a white one do bloodstains wouldn't show up as easily.

Her stomach reacted again, and she it took a few minutes until she finished hurling into the grass.

Less than twenty fours hours ago, she had killed someone in cold blood. Ripped out their heart, like an emotionless monster.

But.. it wasn't as if she meant to. In actuality, she had been aiming for his throat. She wanted to catch him unaware just as he did her, but she had completely missed that area. Maybe it was a blessing that she missed it, since she would have probably ended up just tearing his throat out.

She couldn't decided which was the worse alternative.

A weight suddenly pressed on her head, startling her, and she instinctively pulled a kunai out her pack and whirled around, holding it defensively in front of her. But she instantly lowered it when she found that I was just Gekkou.

"Sorry," she mumbled, putting her kunai away and tying her damp, red stained cloth around her closed eyes.

She didn't see the sad smile he gave her. "No, that was good. It means you have good reflexes, which is much needed to be a shinobi," he assured her, before helping her up from her spot on the rocky ground.

The pinkette suddenly let out a sniffle, and she looked up in the direction of Gekkou's face, where the sounds of coughing was coming from.

"D-Do you think that maybe I could become a worthy kunoichi one day?"

His hand took hers, and she was lead to where their makeshift camp was. "I think that if you try hard enough and really believe in yourself, you could become worthy of being a sannin or kage," he said, surprising her.

She had never actually thought about going that far, probably because she thought she would never be able to achieve it.

"Could you help believe in me?"

"Of course."

...

The only time Sakura Haruno regained her sight, was in her dreams. In the past, that had been a blessing, however, that was about to change.

The scene around her was full of serenity. She was in a forest filled with beautiful, towering trees, and rivers that ran through them. The sky was a perfect mixture of cotton candy pink and blue, telling her that the day was slowly ending.

Besides this, the first thing the pinkette was aware of was the lack of sound, and the fact that she couldn't breath. It was another moment until she realized there was a pale hand wrapped around her neck. His somehow seeing eyes followed that hand to reveal a bare arm, and eventually a man.

A gasp of horror strangled up in her throat when she realized it was her own father that was doing this to her. His normally puffy hair was let down on his back, and his face was a sickly pale.

"Why did you do this?" her dad gasped out, and it was then that she saw her own hand sticking out of his chest. Blood flowed freely doen her arm, staining the skin wherever it touched. Panicking, she hurriedly pulled her hand out, but instantly let out a sharp cry when she brought his heart with her.

She couldn't control her own body. Almost mechanically, it seemed like, she dropped the heart and turned towards her dad, who had already released her neck.

Kizashi stumbled backwards, and held his hand over the large gaping wound on his chest. His face showed horror and betrayal.

Sakura couldn't move, couldn't even begin to start begging for forgiveness or trying to help him. She was simply, a mere statue watching someone she loved suffer in pain and slowly die.

"Sakura.." he called out to her, holding his arms out. He slowly lumbered over to her, and somehow managed to wrap his arms around her petite frame.

"Sakura.."

The blood seeping through his wound was so warm, it was disgusting. Suffocating. She could feel it on her own clothes and skin. Yet, she was powerless to move. Suddenly his body slumped, and she couldn't even catch him, sending him falling into a murky fast-paced river, where he slammed harshly against a rock and disappeared beneath the current.

Nausea built itself up in her stomach.

Despite the fact that nothing was constricting her neck, she struggled to breath properly.

A monster. That's what she was. She killed her own dad. She didn't deserve to be a kunoichi. What was she even th-

"Sakura!"

She woke up, and instantly covered her mouth to smother a scream. Her small chest caved in and out rapidly as she tried to find the breath of air that she was starved of from her nightmare.

Gekkou hovered worriedly over her, his hand on either side of her head to try to calm her down.

"Shhh, it isn't real. It was just a nightmare. You're safe now," he whispered to her, keeping down his coughs. But the words that came out of her mouth almost stopped his heart.

"I know I'm safe.. It's them that aren't safe from me," she sobbed out, uselessly covering up her blotchy face.

As calmly as possible with her fragile state of mind, he pulled her into his arms and stroked her head. "If that is the way you see it, then I guess you could say we are all monster," he mused aloud, making the pinkette look up at him in confusion.

"W-What do you mean?" she hiccuped.

"What I mean is," he started, running his finger comfortingly through her pink locks, "that is the circle of life. The animals aren't safe from us, because we kill them for meat. Our villages are safe from rogue nin, because they kill us. And the rogue nin aren't safe from us, because we kill them."

When Sakura didn't say anything, he continued, "And did you know, that people thought I was t be able to become a shinobi either?"

That got a gasp out of her. "Really!?"

He nodded. "People thought I was too sick to do anything, because I have this undiagnosed cough. But I worked hard for it, and became a special type jōnin. So if I can do this, then so can you," he said encouragingly.

But when he looked down again, the small genin had fallen back asleep. Smiling slightly, he layed her back down and set up watch for the rest of the night, not bothering to wake her up like he said he would for her turn.

The second day passed without a hitch, and they were so close to Otogakure, only about two hours away. So far, nobody else had attempted to attack them.. Yet.

They kept their guard up, and even had Nico flying overhead. At the gates of Otogakure, there was supposed to be somebody waiting for them, ready to show them around and take them to their leader.

The Hokage's words suddenly echoed through her mind.

"There are several reasons why we are suspicious of Otagakure. The first and most obvious is that nobody had yet met their kage. It was only a few moons ago that this village banded together and got the approval of everyone else, but nobody has ever seen this mysterious leader. The second, is that reports of almost grotesque people and nin have been seen in that area. Some guess that horrible expirements are being done to them, or it could be some sort of unholy ritual. Of this we are not sure. There are several other things I could go on and on about, but that will be included in thisfile."

It was so many rumors and suspicions that were set against this village, it almost madeher feel bad for them. But then she had to remind herself that it was their own fault for being so secretive.

Your mind works in the most unique of ways, Sakura-chan, Nico told her from high above in the sky.

Sakura let out a snort if amusement, making Gekkou raise an eyebrow.

"What's so funny?"

"Nico's just complimenting my mind," she responded, a slight smile set upon her lips.

"How does that work? The way he's able to see inside your mind and communicate with you that way," the jōnin asked, spurning genuinely curious.

It was Nico himself that responded wheneve he swooped down and landed on the pinkette's outstretched arm.

"Us eagle summon are able to communicate with our summoner, or even another person, when we create a special bond with them," the eagle summon began, "These bonds are special because it's a sign of mutual trust between both recipients. When I allowed Sakura-chan to heal my wing, that created a bond, because I gave her my trust while she healed me. And since there is no bond between Sakura-chan and Keiki-chan, they cannot do what we can." He has found out about the other eagle that Sakura met, and assured her that she was nasty to everyone.

Gekkou took a few moments to process this, and even Sakura was letting this new information sink into her brain.

"Interesting.. And what special abilities do you have? I've never remembered hearing about eagle summons before," Gekkou commented, curiousity clear in his voice.

The pinkette was able to answer this time, having taken a full day to train with him and figure out the extent of his abilities.

"Eagle summons have the best eyesight out of all the known summons, which is kinda funny considering my blindness. They are also very agile, fast, and are extremely strong, as Nico caught me when I jumped out of the Hokage's window one time," she said, making the jōnin sweatdrop.

"Um, that's nice."

The pair hummed in agreement, now with their heads pushed together and seeing who could push the other back the most, causing another bead of nervous sweat to roll down Gekko's face.

There was a hiss in the wind, the sun glinting off of something in the distance, and Nico and Sakura simaltamiously went to grab the flying senbon out of thin air, only for it to disappear in their grasp.

"Wha-? Ow!" the pinkette gasped when warm blood started to trickle down her cheek, unintentionally reminding of of the events of yesterday. It took a few moments for her to realize that there had been another senbon in the shadow of the first, which had been only a mere clone.

"Damn, they're here again!" Gekkou whsiepred, unsheathing his sword from his back and holding it in front of him.

Nico took to the sky once again while Sakura took out a kunai. She secretly wished she had a bigger, more intimidating blade, but she could fix that later. Right now, they were in danger.

Fifteen people surrounding you, from all sides. There are no escapes. You'll have to fight your way out, the eagle summon told Sakura, who nodded and relayed this information to the tense and alert jōnin.

She was noticeably shaking, and she could hear her heart hammering in her chest. She was afraid of what might come.

A voice was suddenly close to her ear, and she almost let out a startled gasp, but kept still. "There is nothing to worry about. You're strong, and have abilities that are greater these nin, understand? And kill if you must kill. That is how you survive in a world like this," Gekkou calmly told her, before leaning away.

Kill if you must kill.. Survive..

Those words rang through her ears as more weapons flew through the air.

Behind you! Nico hissed, but Sakura was already whirling around, and lunged at the nin coming after her. She applied chakra to her feet, and stomped on the ground, unknowingly creating hairline fractures in the dirt. The vibrations from her feet to the ground told her that two more nin were coming after her.

Sakura didn't have much in her arsenal of tools and weapons, but she did have her mind. So she tried something she had only practiced once before at the Academy.

A genjutsu.

She would try the Hell Viewing Technique, which would put the nin around her in a simulation of their own personal hell-obviously, which was hopeful going to be horrible. It was quite fitting.

Concentrating her chakra in her mind, and then casting it out around her. She suddenly fumbled, remembering something. Since she was blind, she wouldn't be able to make eye contact with any of the nin.. But, there were several other ways to cast genjutsu, those other options would really come in handy, since visual genjutsu was out of the question.

She would be using audible genjutsu, which meant she would be able trap the victim from long distances. She would just have to make sure that she didn't trap Nico and Gekkou as well.

Dodging a kunai to her shoulder, and a kick to her right leg, she thought about how to go about performing a genjutsu.

But why stop there..

The voice was hers, not Nico's as another idea came to her. Why stop at just using auditory genjutsu? The genjutsu would affect the victims brain into allowing the caster to make them feel, hear, taste, ect. what ever they would want to. And that greatly appealed to her.

She also wondered if she would be able to tap into the part of the brain that controlled their moments. She'd have made her own personal puppet then! She shouldn't have felt so gleeful then.

Careful now, you don't want to go all power hungry and get a god complex now, Nico warned, currently clawing a nins eyes out. Sakura ignored him in favor of setting up her genjutsu.

She let the person in front of her hit her shoulder, and during that brief contact, she sent a silver of her own chakra into their brain. She did the same to the other nin surrounding her, and though that allowed her to collect quite a few bruises, she was satisfied.

The pinkette was aiming for the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain that controlled smelling. Them, with a few clumsy hand seals, the nin around her started gasping for air. She had made the illusions that they were breathing in smoke, and that they were being starved for oxygen.

They choked and grasped at her skin, jagged nails ghosting after pain. They passed out within moments, much to her satisfaction.

Then, in slow motion, Sakura heard a body hit the ground, and the sound of coughing abruptly stopped. She had no idea if Gekkou was dead, or just knocked out, but fear momentarily overpowered her, before she let blinding anger consume her soul.

Nico instantly vanished with a poof when she disconnected her chakra to him. She didn't want him to get hurt with what she was about to do. If these nin were sound ninja, just like they had suspected, they should drop like flies after she was done.

She let loose a shrill scream from the back of her throat. The sound wave she let out was low enough in intensity to hear, and that was exactly what she wanted. Warm liquid seeped out of her nose, eyes, and ears as she continued to yell. Blood was also starting to poor in her throat. She was choking.

The pinkette wondered how long she would be able to do this until she passed out. Hopefully she would last longer than the nin around her.

That is, until a hand slapped over her mouth. "Don't make another sound," a pained voice hissed out, and Sakura went to defensive mode. She was about to pull out a kunai that she had hidden up her cloak, before she suddenly recognized the chakra.

Almost instantly, her fear vanished.

Being brave now, she decided to lick the persons hand in attempt to get them off, but frowned whenever they didn't even tense. She absentmindedly wondered how many people have licked that hand before..

"I assume your done now. I'm going to remove my hand, but if you make so much a as a peep, I'll knock you out. Got that?" the males voice said, making Sakura quickly nod.

After about a moment, the hand was removed from her mouth and she stumbled forward, gasping for air.

Finding Gekkou's faint, but still there, chakra signature, Sakura rushed over to him and found his pulse. She breathed out in relieved she found that he just knocked out, though there was pretty deep cut on his head.

The pinkette quickly untied the cloth around her eyes and used that to dab up the blood on his head. Maybe she could get the whole thing stained red so people would just think it was naturally dyed that way.

When she finished, and tied the cloth securely around the unconscious jōnin's head, she turned back to where the other man was waiting.

She sniffed the air, and caught the scent of something metallic coming from him.

"Damn it!" she cursed in alarm when she realized that the man was also bleeding, and it was probably all because of her.

While hurrying towards him, she tore off an under peice of her cloak into a long strip.

A warm hand caught her wrist before she could lift her hand up to his face.

"What are you doing?" the man growled, keeping her wrist in his grip.

She grimaced, feeling guilty. "You're bleeding."

"And how would you know that? Your eyes are closed."

Sakura dared to open her eyes, and felt the body before her tense. Something warm hovered against her cheek, and guessed that his free hand was going to touch her face. But before he could, she jerked her head back and looked to the side, snapping her eyes closed once more.

"You're blind. I'm sorry." And then he released her, but didn't move to walk away.

The pinkette looked back at him and cocked her head. "Do you want to clean up yourself, or shall I?" she asked, faintly annoyed he wouldn't let her help, and the cloth was taken out of her hand.

"What's your name?" she suddenly asked, wanting to know exactly who had rescued her.

There was a brief pause.

"..Itachi."


	6. four lean hounds

"Itachi?" Sakura repeated, testing the unfamiliar name on her tongue. It sounded almost familiar, and translated to weasel. She wondered if that was something important about him. But shoving that thought aside for later, she flashed her teeth at her rescuer, and bowed her head.

"I'm Sakura Haruno," she introduced herself. Now, later thinking about this, sheprobably shouldn't have told her name to a random stranger, despite the fact that he told her his own name, if it was even real. But that thought didn't even cross her mind at the time.

Then she straightened herself up and listened in on the sound of quickly approaching footsteps. Someone was coming.

Frowning now, she quickly hissed a "Prepare yourself," to Itachi, and hurried over to Gekkou to stand protectively in front of him, because she was too weak to carry him somewhere safe. At least she wasn't alone now.

Almost like the strange man had read her mind, he suddenly appeared beside her. She could feel the weight of whatever cloak he was wearing on her skin. She vaguely thought about asking where he got it from because it was an extremely nice material. But she had the decency to at least hold her tongue. Itachi then stepped away from her side and instead stood in front of her.

The footsteps got closer and closer until they were directly in front of the little group. Sakura heard a barely audible gasp, and she knew that they were gazing around at the destruction that she had caused. She was only filled with a little regret, and that was only for the pain she had caused Itachi.

"Konoha-nin-san's, we apologize for not making it here sooner to assist you in the journey. We are from Otogakure," a males voice said, and he followed that with a click of his tongue. At the sharp noise, a person from his group of four separated themselves from them and cautiously walked forward.

The same man then spoke again in a reassuring tone, "Don't worry. It's just our medic."

The pinkette was suspicious now, but let the person get to Gekkou. How would they had known to have brought a medic? But her question was (unfortunately) answered when it was followed by, "There have been lots of rogue nin in the area recently. We figured that something had happened when we realized you were a little bit late."

A small seed of frustration boiled up within Sakura at his tone, because she felt clumsy and useless. The loss of her eyes was inhibiting her from gathering certain sorts of important information, such as what the rogue nin and these new nin looked like. Maybe if she had her eyes, then she would be able to compare them and possibly find some connections.

But the pinky pushed down that wallowing emotion and bowed her head. "Our thanks for helping us. We are-" she suddenly paused, a headache suddenly splitting at her skull. She grit her teeth and wobbled as her mind started to become distorted. Seems like all the screaming, bleeding, and genjutsu look a lot out of her.

An arm wrapped around her waist before she could tumble forward, and she was pressed against something soft. It took her a few moments for her to realize that Itachi had caught her before she face planted into the ground.

Just before she completely passed out, she caught the tail-end of a conversation.

"I thought only two Konoha nin were coming?"

"I asked to tag along, because I was curious about this new village myself."

Suspicion and confusion pulsed through her, but before she could even attempt to inquire as to what Itachi and the man were talking about, she promptly passed out in the formers arms.

Itachi shifted the unconscious girl in his arms so he was carrying her bridal style, with her head resting against the chest of the henge he had transformed into; a man with shoulder length brown hair (because he never really liked short hair), average brown eyes, and the typical Konoha jōnin uniform.

When Sakura finally woke up the next morning, she found herself laying in something soft (a bed, most likely), beside a still passed out Gekkou, in a cold room.

"Ah, I see you're awake," a young male's voice said, startling the pinkette. "Don't worry, you're safe in Otogakure-" (that didn't reassure her at all) "-I'm just a medic here, and can tell that absolutely no harm will come to you."

Sakura nodded and sat up, her hand automatically reaching up to feel the bandages around her eyes and ears. There were also little cotton balls up her nose. Then she gently touched her throat, and felt no pain there. It must have gotten healed.

She cleared her throat before asking, "How's Gekkou?"

"Oh, your little friend here. Unfortunately he's suffered quite the concussion, and will be out for a few days. There was also some bruising on his skull, underneath that nasty cut, but I was able to heal that with no problem," the medic answered.

There was something off about this whole thing, but Sakura couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Maybe.. Aha!

"Sir, why are you masking your chakra?" she cautiously asked. That was why she didn't notice him in the first place. She was genuinely curious, but was also afraid that the medic nin might take this question the wrong way and get suspicious of them, which they didn't want.

There was an almost awkward silence until the male cleared his throat. "No reason, really. It's more for the patients benifet. Some people are extremely sensitive to chakra, so anything new or off could disturb their recovery."

Unfortunately, that answer was plausible. These nin were really good at covering up their tracks. Well, either that or there was actually no need to be suspicious of them.

Sakura nodded, and then there was a gentle knock at the door. She recognized Itachi's chakra on the other side, and suddenly remembered the conversation she had heard before she passed out.

"Are feeling up for a chat with your Konoha friend?" the medic asked, and she nodded mutely with narrowed eyes.

She wanted answers.

After Itachi entered the room, and the medic left, Sakura dropped the smile that was on her lips and crossed her arms.

"So, a Konoha shinobi, eh?" she said, tilting her head. The bed shifted as Itachi sat down at the end.

"The opportunity presented itself. And besides, I'm sure we could help each other," the man said, and Sakura could hear the offer in his voice.

She feigned confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked innocently, slowly unwrapping her head bandage. It was too tight.

An amused chuckle followed. "I'm sure you know what I mean. The rumors of Otogakure of reached all kinds of places by now, including the likes of me, you, and your unconscious friend over there. So like I said before; I believe we can help each other."

So it seemed that she and Gekkou was already found out. She frowned. "Well, I'm also here to learn from the people of the Sound Village," she defended herself in a harsh whisper.

A hand patted her head, and she let out an embarrassing squeak. She quickly grabbed Itachi's hand, who chuckled again, and ended up running her hand over his finger nail. Instead of giving the hand back to its rightful owner, she inspected the tips of his fingers.

She finally looked in the direction of the nin. "Are you wearing nail polish?"

(Apparently the henge didn't change that part.)

It's been awhile since her own nails had been polished. She couldn't do it herself without looking like a toddler had somehow been in contact with her fingertips, and she was too embarrassed to ask someone else to paint them.

Before Itachi could answer, the door swung open and an unfamiliar person stepped through. "He is ready for you. Your friend can continue his rest. Just you two are needed," a female with a clear voice said.

Sakura wondered who the he was, but figured she would find out soon enough. So she returned Itachi his hand, and swung herself out of the bed.

The floor was freezing.

"Uh, has anyone seen my sandles?" she asked sheepishly, and her footwear was handed to her by her new comrade.

She was then lead out of the hospital that was apparently in, walking beside Itachi. The area surrounding her was unfamiliar, and it was even worse because she knew where nothing was. There were also a few people on the street, but that was it. They all seemed to be shinobi was well.

Are there any civilians here? Or is it just made to hold ninja? she asked herself.

"Otogakure was made originally for shinobi and kunoichi that have nowhere else to go, but we occasionally get a few civilian families. They leave before long though," the female said, and Sakura realized that she had accidentally asked her questions out loud.

"What do you mean, if they have nowhere else to go?" the pinkette asked.

"Some people don't approve of their children becoming ninja, so they run away. Or, if a civilian were to want to train as a ninja, and were to old to go to a school or learn with other beginners, they come here."

Itachi asked a question this time, "And after they finish, do they usually end up staying?"

Sakura sensed her surroundings change as she and Itachi were lead into a new building.

"Yes, actually. There is no reason for them to go back," the female responded, before saying, "You're here now. I'll be waiting here for when you're done."

With a short nod, Sakura entered a (what she believed to be) dark room with scented candles, unexpectedly warm air, and she heard the breathing of a person on the other side of the room.

"Welcome, you two," a familiar voice said. It was the medic from before, the same one that healed her and Gekkou. And he said he was just a medic. Pfft. Yeah right.

A hand, that she recognized to be Itachi's, gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, until they stopped in front of some cushions, in which they sat down on. Itachi and Sakura say shoulder to shoulder, or more accurately, shoulder to arm.

"Greeting's, Otokage," Itachi began, but was interrupted by a giggle coming from the medic and supposed Otokage.

"No, I'm not the Otokage. He's actually ...visiting in Suna for a bit, so I'm taking over for him until he return. Unfortunately, you most likely won't get to see him during your stay because he won't be back until before the chunin exams take place," the medic said. 

The chunin exams? It's the first that Sakura had heard of them.

Sakura smiled, and let her silver tongue take control in place of Itachi. She could speak for her own village, thank you very much. "That's no matter. We are just honored to even be given the satisfaction of staying here, no matter how brief it may be. Since your village is such a new one, I'm sure not many people have visited."

The pinkette became almost smug when she could practically taste the controlled surprise rolling off the nin beside her. Even the medic didn't expect that.

"So you've done research on Otogakure?" the male asked, making a bear of nervous sweat suddenly run down her neck.

"I was curious, naturally. Although, there was only so much information I could find. It seems that the Sound Village hasn't gotten much notice yet," she smoothly replied, well aware she was heading into dangerous territory.

A warning hand touched her shoulder, but she shrugged it off and continued, veering the conversation into a different area before anything went wrong. "I'm also excited to be learning from from the sound shinobi. Due to my, erm- blindness, I find it difficult to do things normal ninja can do." It wasn't exactly the truth though, anymore.

She was discovering new things to do, that she probably wouldn't have found out if she hadn't of been blinded. Actually, a lot of things wouldn't have happened if that accident (it wasn't really an accident) had gone differently.

She heard the medic shifting, and guessed that he was sitting on cushions as well. "Ah yes, your blindness," he started, and Sakura felt a wee-bit anxious at his interested tone. "I've found some interesting things while going over you, such as the fact that your optic nerves are completely demolished. Mind telling me the story of how it happened?" he inquired, obviously curious.

Sakura grimaced, but nodded. She could tell that Itachi wanted to know as well. "Well, my team and I were on a mission. We were only supposed to be transporting liquids, and yes– they happened to be extremely toxic and we wore gas masks– when a bunch of rogue nin showed up out of nowhere. During the fight, my gas mask was shattered to pieces, but that was probably my fault because I noticed something suspicious with the glass but didn't speak up. Anyways, one of the barrels got spilled, I was knocked to the ground pretty hard, and then you can guess what happened. A splash in the face was all it took. He also took my hair," she added as an after thought, reaching up to twirl a short strand of her hair with her finger.

There was a few moments of silence that Sakura took to look more in depth as too what had happened. Those men from the mines had looked perfectly capable to lift those things themselves. Did they know that those rogue nin were out there? If so, why wouldn't they tell them? There was also the fact that she had been given a defected gas mask such was a hazard safety, and no person worth their brain in marbles would ever have someone use it, much less an inexperienced genin. And what was with the hair thing?

Was it.. Was it possibly planned? she thought in horror, chewing nervously at her cheek.

She was brought back to reality when the medic cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for what happened, Haruno-san. Otogakure will happily help you out when you arrived here. I'll have a team waiting for you tomorrow. For now, I'll have Michi-san bring you to your temporary room while I talk to Hosuh-san. I'm sure you'll want to finish your recovery in peace," the medic said.

Hosuh-san? Who was- Oh. Apparently Itachi, if that was even his real name, was feeding more lies to the nin of Otogakure. She wisely said nothing on the matter, but was bound and determined to do so later.

She would get her answers.

But in the meantime, she stood up and smoothed down her clothes, before lowering herself into a bow. "Thank you again for allowing us to be here, and for enabling me pick up tips from your shinobi. And I'll see you soon, Hosuh-san."

Then she straightened herself up and spin on her heel, using her sharpened memory to remember where the door was a smoothly walk outside.

It was after Sakura left the room that realized that the medic nin had not given out his name, or did he unmask his chakra.

Disrupting the patients my ass, she thought, internally rolling her eyes. That medic nin was just full of bullcrap, and wasn't making things better for himself or the village.

The woman from before was waiting in the same place that she had left Sakura and Itachi. "Now that you're done, I'm to bring you to the guest quarters," she said, the pinkette guessed that this was Michi.

After a nod, the woman promptly took the lead, all the while answering any questions she had had about anything at all. Unfortunately, Sakura couldn't seem to ask questions that had to be left unanswered or were suspicious.

"Here we are," Michi finally said, and they stopped in front of a door. After a quick farewell, the woman left Sakura with a key and her luggage, as well as Gekkou's and apparently Itachi's. She was tempted to look through the latter stuff, but decided it would be disrespectful, and didn't feel like getting her ass kicked..

After plopping everything on the floor, and closing the door behind her, she sent out a sound wave high enough in frequency so that it wouldn't hurt her.

It still did though.

Her throat burned, and her ears began to ring. But, at least she found where everything was located.

The room was a little small, but it wasn't bad. There were two beds on the left side, with a nightstand in the middle. On the other side, in the left corner, was a tiny kitchen that had an equal tiny table. And then, near the door, was a simple couch with another small table in front of it, set on top of a rug.

That was all the detail she got.

Deciding it was enough for now though, and that she could check to see if the room was bugged later, Sakura dragged her belongings over to the bed on the right, and then promptly collapsed in it without changing. She was suddenly too tired to do anything, and quickly fell asleep without a second thought.

That was her mistake.

Sakura woke up a few hours later with tears streaking down her cheeks, and warm hands cupping her face. It took her a moment to realize that it was Itachi that was hovering over her. She didn't hear him enter the room last night, and she must have woken him up.

"I-I'm sorry," she hoarsely stammered out, hating the feelings of weakness and helplessness that enslaved her.

But she was only gently shushed, and his thumbs worked soothingly on her cheekbones below her eyes. "Your first kill is always the hardest, especially when it's done in such a violent manner," Itachi whispered, making the pinkette wonder how he knew. Her silent question was answered a moment later.

"I watched it happen, and caught you when you fell," he explained. "It was a form of self defense to protect yourself from being killed. There's nothing wrong with that," he said reassuringly, and she could feel herself begin to calm down.

"Could you tell me what he looked like? In my nightmares, I've been replacing him with my friends and family," she said in a small voice, and the hands left her face to grab her own fingers.

"He had short brown hair,an average type, like the henge I'm using now-" of course he's using a henge, but- A thought came to her.

"The room could be bugged," she quickly spluttered out.

"I've already dealt with that."

"Oh.."

"I will continue now. Your ninja had brown hair, dark green eyes that almost looked black. The bottom half of his few was covered by a mask, he wore no hitai-ate, and there was a mole just below his right eye. Will that do?" he asked, taking his hands away from hers.

Sakura breathed out. "Thank you," she simply said in reply. Sleepiness was clouding her mind again, and she let out a yawn. She shouldn't be trusting a stranger, but she was young, naive, and inexperienced.

"Go to sleep now," Itachi insisted. "Everything will be fine."

Without another word, Sakura got comfy underneath the scratchy covers, and her breathing slowed.

She was asleep again, and this time she could fight against her nightmares.

The next morning, Itachi decided that he explore the village while Sakura was out training with the sound nin. It would be important to know where everything was and what everything was for their mission, and Sakura would possibly be able to learn more about Otogakure during that time.

After performing five quick hand signs and slamming her hand on the ground, Nico appeared with a loud screech, and leaped onto the poor girl, successfully knocking her to the ground.

"You do not do that again, ya hear me!?" the eagle summon began, a hitch in his words. "I was worried sick. I saw what was going through your head, and you could have died! What were you even- Wait, who's that?"

Nico had finally noticed Itachi, who was standing there almost awkwardly.

"Too much to explain. Just look inside my mind," Sakura said, standing back up and moving to get clothes to get dressed. She chose a pair of black shorts and a red shirt. Simple, and easy to move around in if the situation called for it.

"Ahh, I see. So you changed your henge to look like your real self for now," the eagle summon finally said after a few minutes of silence.

The pinkette whirled around to face in the direction of Itachi, and held her arm out. "We never did talk about you, did we? So Nico, what does he look like?"

The eagle took flight and landed on Sakura's outstretched arm despite not having the gauntlets on. "Let's see.. Long black hair that reaches his shoulder, black eyes, deep tear lines, a black cloak with red clouds, looks to be a few years older than you.. And those are the basics," he finished.

He's also pretty cute, Nico added in her mind, wiggling the eyebrows (that he didn't have), suggestively. 

But Sakura was thinking of other things. She cocked her head and put a free finger on her chin. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that matches the description of an Uchiha!" she exclaimed. "But Sasuke-kun is the only Uchiha left, so that's impossible."

Nobody saw the briefest look of panic flitting across Itachi's face, before disappearing behind a calm facade. He simply raised an eyebrow. "You know the famous last Uchiha?" he said, sounding more than a little curious.

The pinkette. "Yup," she said, popping the p. "We were on the same team until I get kicked off because of my blindness," she answered casually, as if being forced to leave her team was nothing to fuss about. It was everything to fuss about.

"Also, Itachi-san, please turn around," Sakura suddenly ordered the nin, who raised an eyebrow but did what she said anyways.

"And for what reason am I doing this?" he asked.

It was Nico who answered though. "She's getting changed, and doesn't want you to see. The only bathroom is downstairs, and she's too lazy to walk all the way down there."

Itachi sweatdropped, but stayed turned around like the respectful gentleman he was raised to be.

"Alright, done!" the pinkette announced and the nin turned around to see his roommate dressed and ready to go for the day. She had also pulled her hair into a messy bun on her head, and displayed her Konoha hitai-ate proudly. 

Then she suddenly frowned. "I need something to put around my eyes.." she murmured, before walking around the room and letting her hand trail against everything, seeing if there was anything useful in the small room.

Something was suddenly draped over her head, and discovered that Itachi had handed her a bandage.

"It's the only thing I have, but it should do," he answered the pinkette's silent question, making her smile at him gratefully and wrap it around the top of her head.

When she finished, she sat down on the couch that was beside the door and had an expectant look on her face. "So, Hosuh-san, I believe there are some things you'd like to tell me," she stared, resting her cheek in the palm of her hand that was propped up on the side of the couch.

Itachi let out a sigh and sat beside her. But since it was so small of a couch, they were practically squashed together. Nico had to hide an amused chuckle at that sight, and decided to perch himself on the candle holder that was on the table in front of the two.

"I'll only answer questions of my choice. No more, no less," the nin said in a bargaining tone, which Sakura obligingly accepted.

"First question. Why the fake name and henge?" she started off with, leaning back into the couches soft cushioning. It was certainly more comfortable than the bed she slept in last night.

"To protect my identity," Itachi responded vaguely, making the pinkette frown.

"Why would you need to do that?" she asked in puzzlement. Naive little girl. It would get her killed.

She suddenly sensed Itachi's face lean forward and felt his breath on her cheek. The nin unleashed a powerful aura that oozed power. Finally, finally, Sakura felt fear in his presence. Her heart thudded against her chest and her hands clenched against her sides. Her body was telling her to run while she could.

"Pass," he whispered in her ear, before leaning back and reeling in his bloodlust. It took a few moments for Sakura to find her voice again.

"N-Next question." She didn't mean to stutter. She still needed answers. For herself and her village. She needed more knowledge. More experience. "What suspicions do you have of Otogakure, and who sent you? Or do you just work on your own?"

Itachi let out a little chuckled and patted her head. It baffled Sakura how quickly he could change his attitude. "So many questions for a little genin," he said, making the pinkette frown. He continued, "My suspicions are something that I can tell you later, and I can't tell you who sent me."

So he was working for someone else. An organization of some sort? Was he a rogue nin that was undercover? Well, the undercover part was obvious now. But there was so many things she didn't know, and her brain was telling her to find out all that she could.

I'm not sure either, though that cloak he's wearing does seem familiar somehow, Nico told her in her head, his voice wondering.

"How old are you?" Sakura asked, changing the direction of the interrogation.

"A few years older than yourself, like your summon said. But if you want an exact age, then I would have to tell you that I'm seventeen," he answered.

So he's around five years older than her, which really wasn't that much of a difference considering she was twelve. (Thirteen very soon.)

Before she could ask another question, such as if Itachi was even his real name, a knock sounded at the door, startling Sakura since she had been focusing all of her attention on the person beside her.

She quickly bounced to her feet and opened the door that was only a few feet away.

There were four chakra signatures, and she knew that the group consisted of shinobi such as herself. "Ah, hello. You must be the people that medic-san said would be waiting for me," she said, wishing that the medic had told her his name so she didn't feel like an idiot right now.

That's not hard to do, Nico mused.

Sakura turned around, still holding the door open. "Nico.." she said in a warning tone.

The eagle summon innocently ruffled his wings. "You can't prove I even said anything," he shot back in teasing tone. If she could see him, the pinkette would be glaring right about now. He was lucky.

She turned back to waiting ninja. The one farthest to the right spoke first, who she suddenly recognized as the female from yesterday, Michi. "Greetings, Haruno-san. This is my team, Dosu Kinuta, Kin Tsuchi, and Zaku Abumi. For the majority of your stay here, we will be helping out with you," she said. Despite her upbeat tone, her words sounded like Sakura was a problem that needed to be fixed. She couldn't tell if that was purposeful or not.

The only female on the team spoke first. "I'm Kin Tsuchi. But you probably didn't know that because you're obviously blind," she stated in a hard tone.

Sakura prided herself on not even twitching a muscle. She had a feeling that this would happen sooner or later. And it would be best to learn how to deal with those types of comments. So she lifted her lips into a small smile, surprising everyone, and completely ignored the girl. She didn't respond at all, like she knew Kin wanted her to.

After the tense silence, the boys introduced themselves next in rude tones as well, but said nothing more on her apparent blindness.

Dosu was obviously the leader of the three genin, while Zaku seemed like the type of sit back and watch the action. Sakura didn't get good vibes from either of them.

Michi then clapped her hands together, bringing everyone's attention to her. "Now that that's done and over with, how about we get going. Hosuh-san, will you be joining us?" she asked the man who was standing behind Sakura.

He shook his head. "No, I'm sure Haruno-san can take care of herself," he replied, and then proceeded to gently push her and shut the door behind her.

Wow, how nice, the pinkette thought sarcastically, an stood there in exasperated silence as the door was opened again, and this time Nico was kicked out.

"Your friend certainly is a rude one," Nico said stiffly as he landed on the pinkette's arm, who nodded her head, agreeing with him.

"That he is."

About five minutes later, Sakura was being lead down the road by a team that basically hated her guts. Fun, right?

She tensed as Kin slowed down to fall into step beside her. "So, Haruno-san, I'm surprised that your kage even allowed you to become a kunoichi," she said in a snotty voice.

"I may be blind, Tsuchi-san, but I'm not incompetent," she responded in the same tone, earning an oooh from Zaku, who was quickly shut up by Dosu with a slap on the head.

Kin merely snorted. "Says the genin who woke up on a hospital bed yesterday," she shot back.

There was that feeling worthlessness again.

"I challenge you to a battle," Sakura suddenly said, the words tumbling out of her lips without a second thought. She had to control herself from slapping her hands over her mouth.

Like I said. It's not hard to be idiotic, Nico oh-so-helpfully stated, making the girl tug on one of his tail feathers. The eagle summon let out an undignified yelp and left her arm in a hurry, not wanting to be abused again (even though it was technically his fault in the first place).

The female kunoichi suddenly wrapped her hand around Sakura's shoulders and pulled her closer. "I'd like to see you try to win," she whispered in her ear before pushing her away. The pinkette stumbled a little but caught herself before she fell.

Nervous sweat rolled down her face. What have I gotten myself until, she thought. It was only luck and putting herself in the hospital that allowed her to defeat those rogue nin. It was doubtful she would win against this Sound genin.

You doubt yourself too much, Nico chided her from his place in the sky.

The pinkette didn't respond.

Kin and Sakura started with basic taijutsu, and it was clear to see who the superior one in this battle was. It was all the pinkette could do to block her punches, and stay out of kicking range. A break in the wind told her about an incoming hit, a shift in the earth meant she was moving and changing positions.

The Otogakure genin suddenly appeared behind her, and sent her flying forward to the ground. She basically ate a pile of dirt. It was humiliating.

Anger and frustration were starting to lend her energy now. As quickly as she got thrown down, she jumped back up. Numerous plans and counter attacks started running through her head.

I'm nowhere near strong enough to face her head to head, and I'm also not fast enough to continue avoiding her. My best bet would probably be to move her away from taijutsu moves into so thing else, like ninjutsu or genjutsu, she rapidly thought, all the while managing to get kick sent to her shoulder blades and making her slump forward. As soon as she was even just a little out of it then, Kin suddenly kneed her chin, making her arch and fall into her back.

"Weak," the genin taunted into her ear, pulling her up by her hair. For some reason, there was almost something dejavu-like about this position. A kunai was then pressed to her neck, and all rational thoughts left her. She began working on instincts alone.

Very suddenly, the pinkette rammed her head into Kin's forehead, making her loosen her hold. By default, the kunai also pressed against her throat causing causing blood to drip down to her collarbone. She took this opportunity to grab the the kunai, and with deft fingers from doing normal household activities with no sight, she turned the weapons around towards its blunt head, put her head slightly to the side, and pushed it back.

When the kunai's hilt hit Kin, she released Kin and stumbled backwards, her hands flying to her welting cheekbone. Without giving the genin any time to recover, Sakura lunged forward, ready to let her chakra consume the genin's mind.

But a noise stopped her. A loud, ringing noise that echoed through her ears, and her heightened senses made it worse. With a gasp, she fell to her knees and tried to block out the sound. It didn't work at all. That meant it wasn't an actual sound, but affected the mind. Kin had gotten her in a genjutsu before she could. And, did she mutually herself into several clones? It was her chakra was everywhere, and it was extremely confusing.

A hand yanked on her hair again. "Do you give up?" Kin asked, her voice loud and clear.

Sakura really didn't want to give up and admit defeat.

You can do it, you can do it, Nico chanted in her mind, trying to lend her moral support.

It worked. Sakura channeled her chakra to her hands and feet, and then hauled herself up to her feet.

"Hah, what are you going to do, send a couple of toothpicks at me?" Kin asked, mockery evident in her tone.

Toothpicks.. Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.

The pinkette discreetly pulled a couple of senbon out of her pouch, and hid them underneath her gauntlets-which was actually turned out to be an excellent place to hide things.

"Hey, Kin. Mind telling me about all the snakes around her? Or more accurately, the snake statues?" she suddenly asked, and when she felt the genin's chakra faulter, she sent her senbon flying. Kin was able to pass them, but not the ones flying in the shadow.

Sakura knew they hit their mark when the genin let out a sharp gasp, and could smell blood. By using the place of the sun, and what direction they were facing, the pinkette was able to determine where the shadows would be. Of course, only using senbon wouldn't render her useless, so that why she had connected her chakra to them, creating chakra strings. 

With a quick tug of her fingers, the senbon slid out of her flesh and she quickly wrapped the strings around her, trying her up. With a slight pull, she was then able to make Kin fall on her face, just as she had made her do before.

Revenge tasted like dirt.

Michi then decided to intervene and call it a drawl. "That was good, you two. I'm impressed," she said as she easily cut through Sakura's chakra strings and helped her student up. The pinkette meanwhile was left to fend for herself, and cut off the part of her brain that required hearing, before turning it back on. The ringing finally stopped.

Sakura, you really need to stop doing experiments like that on yourself. Just because you named your Konoh's Experiment, doesn't mean you always need to risk doing something that could permanently damage you, the eagle summon scolded her, coming to land beside her as she collapsed on her back on the ground and spread her limbs out. Sweat was rolling in a gross manner down her back.

"Oh, but Nico-kun, then if I hadn't of experimented, then I wouldn't have been able to heal your wing, and then who'd be my voice of reason?" she pointed out, her sentence ending in a large yawn. 

Nico let out a a squawk of alarm. "You mean to say that I was basics an experiment as well!?"

"Maa, the details aren't important."

Before they could bicker anymore, someone suddenly lifted the pinkette up, and was thrown unceremoniously over their shoulder.

"Hey, what the hell It- Hosuh-san!?" Sakura yelled at her captor, kicking her legs and hitting at his back. But his grip on her thighs didn't waver in the slightest.

"I'm going to take my genin and get some food into her stomach. She didn't eat breakfast, and gets violent when she's angry," the pretend-Konoha-nin said in an apologetic voice voice, before suddenly shunshining the two away.

Nico was left behind her again, and escaped into the sky to find them.

After Itachi put on the pinkette down, she realized that they were back in their room, and there was food sitting on the table.

Her stomach suddenly growled, and she finally realized how hungry she was. But she refused to be bribed, and crossed her arms over her chest, facing the undercover nin.

"Why did you kidnap me?" She asked in a slightly annoyed voice. She didn't even have the chance to learn anything from them.

"Because I needed to talk to you," he simply said, making an irk mark appear on her forehead.

But her stomach growled again, and she blushed. Very grudgingly, she made her way to the table and plopped on the couch. She didn't waste a second to start digging into the delicious food.

"Snakes," Itachi suddenly said, making the pinkette choke on her food.

After dislodging the peice of food from her throat and swallowing it, she turned towards the nin who sat beside her and raised an eyebrow. (Maybe the food was helping her attitude.)

But Itachi's next word confused her. "I believe there's a snake in Otogakure."

**Author's Note:**

> I have the first 14 chapters already written, and they are being edited as I post them. These are also cross posted on Wattpad and Quotev. 
> 
> This is not my first Sakura fanfic, but it’s the only one that I kept and still continue to write for. The lovecraftian/eldritch themes become *a lot* more present in chapters 13 and 14. 
> 
> Lmao anyways, please leave a comment because that fuels much of my motivation to write, and I hope that you enjoy this!


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